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Obama Concedes Defeat on Daschle while Republicans Declare Victory on Judd Gregg and Daschle’s Downfall

By Steve Clemons on February 4, 2009 at 5:34 PM in Commerce, Health Care, Obama, Obama Administration, Republicans, Tom Daschle

(Steve Clemons’ blog is The Washington Note; he was a finalist for “The Best Very Large Blog” in the 2008 Weblog Awards. Steve Clemons serves as Senior Fellow & Director, American Strategy Program, New America Foundation and, in his spare time, as Director of the Japan Policy Research Institute.)

OF NOTE: Steve operates his blog much as we do, welcoming diverse viewpoints for publication (and we don’t censor comments by those who disagree with us either!, as long as they don’t indulge in name-calling, which goes for both sides). So, today, Steve published a guest article, “Chris Nelson: Daschle Had to Go.” Allowing, even encouraging, diverse POVs on blogs is so much more stimulating than the Daily Kossack style of censorship that only allows nodding heads to participate. That’s our policy at NoQuarter, and it’s Steve’s too.

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tom-daschle-twn

During the battle over John Bolton’s Senate confirmation to serve as US Ambassador to the United Nations, a post that Bolton ultimately achieved through presidential recess appointment rather than by Senate vote, I noticed a peculiar difference between leading Democrats and leading Republicans.

On the Sunday morning talk shows, leading Democrats kept saying that while they weren’t big John Bolton fans, ultimately the President would win the fight over the confirmation of America’s leading pugnacious nationalist.

At various times during the 21-month long struggle, then Senator Joseph Biden, Senator Chuck Schumer, Senator Richard Durbin, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, and Senator Patrick Leahy all said on political shows that Bolton would get confirmed. To his credit, Durbin actually withdrew his statement and issued a release through this blog commending those working hard to stop Bolton’s confirmation.

Dems were conceding before they needed to — and the Republicans, through the entire battle, were declaring victory even though there was dissension in their own ranks and they were losing the confirmation war.

Obama seems to be replicating the pattern — conceding defeat on Tom Daschle, one of the people most responsible for actually creating the Obama political machine — and on the very same day yielding a senior cabinet position at the Department of Commerce not to a leading business official or Democratic Congressman or Governor — but rather giving it to Judd Gregg who voted 14 years ago to abolish the Commerce Department.

People will be parsing for some time Tom Daschle’s missteps with his taxes, and why he wasn’t vetted more by the Obama team, and whether Rahm Emanuel was part of the game knifing Daschle from behind, and what the political upper crust in Washington sees as “normal” when they leave office — but what this was mostly about was the opposing team taking down one of Obama’s most important chess pieces.

This was all about Obama, about humbling him, about dividing progressives over whether to support or oppose Daschle.

What we see are two interesting things. First, we see that the divisions between the political franchises inside the Obama camp are fraught with tension and anger now. Many of Daschle’s camp are quite furious with Obama’s chief of staff.

And the Republican opposition, which has appeared of late to be weak and inchoate. . .isn’t.

– Steve Clemons

Patience

Interesting. So, there may be infighting and turf warfare in the Obama administration. This is nothing new in the political arena. After all, the expression is “political animal” not “political “altruist”. I imagine that someone who’s been around for as long as Daschle has could have more “problems” than what we’ve become aware of.

I wonder just how powerful Rahm Emanuel really is? Does his power derive from a vacuum created by the inexperience of the POTUS? Or is the POTUS a hands-off type of manager? Or is the POTUS by design a mere figurehead?

And who pulls Rahm Emanuel’s strings? Inquiring minds want to know.
beebop

I am watching ABC where they are high lighting barky and Geithner …. Timmy’s profile reminds me a lot of the Tin Man …
http://me414.wordpress.com/ Mary Ellen

This is the problem when a puppet President is put in office, he has no idea how to manage his staff because they are managing him. This fiasco will continue and everyone might as well get a bowl of popcorn and take a seat to enjoy the show. The only way that we will know if Obama wins the battle of who is manager, will be when we see Rahm Emmanuel resign his position and crawl back under his rock in Chicago.
Tuppence411

“And who pulls Rahm Emanuel’s strings? Inquiring minds want to know.”
Great question Patience! And Barky was so afraid of Hillary creating a competing power base. HA! Barky ain’t seen nothing yet. I would sleep with one eye open around Rahm
Tuppence411

I have no doubt Daschle’s demise was a powerplay; but this Washington insider machination at least resulted in the American people winning out.

IMHO, he would have been horrible as HHS Secretary. Daschle’s vision of health care reform is stuck in a time warp– a huge 60ish liberal entitlement program run by the inept federal goverment, which would include rationing. Just read his book.
UKforDems

I love how Rethugs spin defeat into victory. A certain Governor Democratic Governor picked the replacement to Judd. Had a Democrat been picked, Republicans could have done nothing; however nor could that Governor, who has declared more than a little interest in running.
Chris Martin

We all know how great the private banking institutions did without the burdens of government regulation. But hey, the government bogeyman has been used for decades by conservatives to scare people. No reason to stop now.

BTW, Medicare may be an inept government program, but it is cheaper than private insurance companies and people on Medicare give it higher ratings than people on private plans. So government ineptness seems to be cheaper and liked more than private company ineptness (when it comes to health care). But who needs efficiency and happiness, eh? Government sucks and the banking industry is peachy!
Ellen D

I haven’t heard the Vets complaining about being stuck in Government run health care either.
Linda C.

Interesting that Daschle and Bill Richardson are gone?
It doesn’t seem that any of the anti-Clinton wing of the Dem party got anything out of this deal with Obama.

As for Republicans spinning everything into victory..Fairly typical.
derridog

Yes. I was wondering about that too. He appoints those people who helped him the most during the primary take it away from Hillary and then suddenly they have to resign because of a scandal. Howard Dean and Donna Brazille were simply thrown under the bus to start with because, while they also were too stupid to realize they were being used, they were not important enough for O to have to give them a cabinet position for cover and then take it away before it actually happened.

Does it seem to anyone else that there is a pattern here? I fear that one day soon, Hillary will be set up in the same way. Either that or she’ll be cut out of the loop like Bush did to Colin Powell until she resigns out of frustration and disgust. Then she’ll and Bill will join everyone else under the bus.
Ani

Pres. Obama long ago declared himself a “Delegator.” His words. Not mine.

You can delegate the job of the president, you cannot delegate strong leadership. If he is abdicated to Rahm, this will be very interesting.

This was one of the chief complaints about Pr. Obama to begin with — he was really in over his head and did not know the players or how it all works, much less have the leadership skills to navigate these treachorous waters during these treacherous times.
http://! stodgie

i went by kos today. there were actually having real discussions. i didn’t stay of course. my fumigator was coughing with the influx of toxic fumes.
http://! stodgie

i missed the brazile under the bus show. dang, i know i should have stayed tuned in. what are the gory details. i know i haven’t seen her aroudn recently.
Andy

Thanks for reminding me about the “Delegator” statement! That’s correct; he thinks that it suffices for him to “be present” , delegate the hard work, and procrastinate long enough so that tough decisions are resolved by default of however things evolve. Of course giving lofty speeches with charged rhetoric and lecturing everyone else will continue as this, it seems he knows how to deliver…(read?).
elise

This is an interesting observation and I think it may be true. Animals are very territorial and politicians are the worst. Chief of Staff controls who has access to the president and some of them have been fairly evil and weren’t well liked. People dismiss the idea Blago may never be indicted, but if he is, all the tapes with Emanual and his gutter mouth, will become public and even if he didn’t do anything illegal, his career will be over. So, will they replace Fitzgerald, refuse to allow Emanuel to testify if it goes to trial and will Blago’s charm win over the American people? Sounds like a soap opera.
http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2009/02/04/barack-obama-on-the-precipice-of-becoming-jimmy-carter/ Is Barack Obama on the Precipice of Becoming Jimmy Carter? : NO QUARTER

[...] protestations that he alone made the decision, it’s clear that former Senator Tom Daschle was summarily dumped, and Steve Clemons hints that Rahm Emanuel had a hand in it (”Many of Daschle’s camp are [...]
Ani

Oops — forgive me — I meant you CANNOT delegate the job of President.
Ani

I don’t know about Hillary being set up — I thought this too originally, but the fact is he needs her too much to do that. So we shall see.
Ani

Also, I may need my googles adjusted, but I take it as a good sign that all the ones that Pres. Obama just threw under the bus are the Hillary backstabbers:
r2d2

Steve, the American people did not support a tax cheater. The senators, both Republicans and Democrats were getting lots of calls to vote “no” on Daschle’s nomination.
Clara Barton

And don’t forget Kerry. He didn’t get a coveted appointment snatched from his gnarly grasp, but he’s “out” never-the-less.
Clara Barton

He may try to crap on Hillary, but she’s quite savvy and will see it coming. He won’t get Hillary and Bill twice.
Clara Barton

They didn’t support Geithner either, but he was the only person in the country who could do the job, so The One overlooked his cheating. Besides, he was lucky enough to come first.
creeper

“you CANNOT delegate the job of President.”

Actually, you can. See Bush, George W. and Cheney, Richard.
bemused

I’d give Medicare a higher rating on both cost and ease of use over my previous Blue Cross-Blue Shield PPO.
First, since I have to pay part A, $90/mo vs. $650/mo. Feel the pain relief. I don’t need overpriced drugs too often so I don’t have medigap, but if I did, I would still be ahead.
Second, reduced hassle. Go to the dr. and say I have a PPO, wait for confirmation and a slew of caveats. Go and say I have Medicare, it’s OK, we know what to do. No inquisition, no letter arriving a few months later to say that because they are dedicated to providing the best service, they will now have to raise the monthly rate (because I dared to get older or actually need medical care).
Lisa Hinman

Patience,

I agree totally. I think there is more to Daschel’s problems then we know.