Obama taps Daschle as health secretary
Ex-senator is longtime Washington insider
WASHINGTON — Barack Obama is enlisting former Senate leader Tom Daschle as his health secretary, embracing a third Washington insider in the early stages of Cabinet-building by the president-elect who promised change.
Hillary Clinton, the capital's most famous woman for two decades, seemed ever more likely to be his secretary of state.
File/AP
Democratic officials say Daschle has accepted President-elect Barack Obama's offer to be Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Clinton is deciding whether to take that post as America's top diplomat, her associates said Wednesday. And Obama is poised to announce that his attorney general will be Eric Holder, who was the Justice Department's No. 2 when Clinton's husband was president.
Keeping the seating charts straight is Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff and another veteran of the Clinton White House.
It's still early in the building of an administration by the candidate who built his campaign on promises of change. But so far, fresh faces have been few.
Daschle's selection to head the Department of Health and Human Services, confirmed Wednesday but not yet announced, isn't at the same level of Cabinet prestige as the top spots at the State and Justice departments.
But the health post could be more important in an Obama administration than in some others, making Daschle a key player in helping steer the president-elect's promised health care reforms.
The former South Dakota senator's return to the government will be a vindication of sorts. He was the Senate Democratic leader when he was defeated in 2004 by Republican John Thune, who persuaded voters back home that Daschle was more concerned with Washington than with them.
Daschle stayed in the capital city after his defeat, becoming a public policy adviser and member of the legislative and public policy group at the law and lobbying firm Alston & Bird.
Daschle isn't registered as a lobbyist; he advises clients on issues including health care, financial services, taxes and trade, according to the firm's Web site.
Health care interests including CVS Caremark, the National Association for Home Care and Hospice, Abbott Laboratories and HealthSouth are among the firm's lobbying clients.
While Daschle's appointment was not formally announced, Democratic officials said the job was his barring an unforeseen problem as Obama's team reviews his background.
One area of review will include the lobbying connections of his wife, Linda Hall Daschle, who has worked mostly on behalf of airline-related companies over the years. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Linda Hall Daschle was acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration in the Clinton administration and is one of Washington's top lobbyists.
Her clients over the past year included American Airlines, Lockheed Martin and Boeing, Senate lobbying records show. Linda Daschle's lobbying firm said Wednesday that she would be leaving the group at the end of the year.
Tom Daschle, who will be 61 next month, was a close adviser to Obama throughout this year's White House campaign. He recently wrote a book on his proposals to improve health care: "Critical: What We Can Do About The Health-Care Crisis."
He also has been working with former Senate leaders on recommendations to expand health coverage.
An array of consumer groups quickly lined up in support of Daschle as secretary of a department that oversees nearly a quarter of all federal spending.
"Someone with his stature and clout, combined with his passion and expertise in health care, is an exciting choice," said DeAnn Friedholm, Consumers Union's campaign director for health care reform.
Republicans sniped at what they saw as an unwelcome trend.
"Barack Obama is filling his administration with longtime Washington insiders," said Alex Conant, spokesman for the Republican National Committee.
"Since losing his Senate seat, Tom Daschle has worked for a major lobbying firm. For voters hoping to see new faces and fewer lobbyist connections in government, Daschle's nomination will be another disappointment," Conant said.
Daschle will not only work on efforts to reduce the ranks of the uninsured, but he'll also be tasked with improving the nation's food and drug safety as well as overseeing safety-net programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
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Comments
This article has 42 comment(s)
Posted by moonpie on November 20, 2008 at 6:33 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Now how do you people that voted for Obama feel about the "change" now. So far it looks like a Clinton white house. Besides the AG everyone is from the Clinto era?
Change my ass.
Posted by B_Fwank on November 20, 2008 at 7:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Mr Change Obama, is nothing more than a puppet for all the old timers from the clinton years...what a joke!
"What's the news tomorrow?" - to which Matthews loudly started talking about President-elect Barack Obama possibly picking Hillary as his secretary of state.
"I don't understand it," Matthews bellowed. "Why would he pick her? I thought we were done with the Clintons. She'll just use it to build her power base. It's Machiavellian. And then we'll have Bill Clinton, too. I thought Obama didn't want drama. He's already got [chief of staff Rahm] Emanuel and [transition team leader John] Podesta. He'll have even more drama with her.
"She's just a soap opera. If he doesn't pick her, everyone will say she's been dissed again, we'll have to live through that again."
http://www.nypost.com/seven/11182008/gos...
Posted by guidedbystewart on November 20, 2008 at 7:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Well, the economy was way better eight years ago than we are now.... Besides, Clinton was a good president in my book.
Posted by B_Fwank on November 20, 2008 at 8:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Sure the economy was good, lol, he also had a republican house and senate that passed welfare reform.
Clinton's inaction against Bin laden gave us 9-11. He had 3 seperate chances to capture or kill him. I am sure the great economy was a happy thought for those in the 4 hijacked aircraft and in the Pentagon/WTC on 9-11.
What book are you reading, Alice in Wonderland?
Posted by B_Fwank on November 20, 2008 at 8:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)
http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/clinto...
http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/clinto...
http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/sudans...
http://www.craigsteiner.us/articles/16
Posted by B_Fwank on November 20, 2008 at 8:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Obama's AG Choice was Key Figure in Clinton Terrorist Clemency Controversy
Thursday, November 20, 2008
By Matthew Cover
Holder, who was deputy attorney general from 1997 until 2001, oversaw all of the requests for clemency filed during those years, including requests from former domestic terrorists, drug traffickers and a number of disgraced politicians.
Most notable among the petitions for clemency granted during Holder’s tenure is the request from 16 members of a Puerto Rican Marxist terrorist group, the Armed Forces of National Liberation, known by its Spanish acronym FALN, which engaged in a robbery and terror campaign in both the U.S. and Puerto Rico during the 1970s and 1980s.
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/ar...
Posted by B_Fwank on November 20, 2008 at 8:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
JimIslander "I mean where else are you going to find Democrats with experience..."
LOL, experiance with what...failure, corruption, raising taxes, blue dresses....?
Come on JohnQ/Spankurbuns.
Posted by B_Fwank on November 20, 2008 at 8:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
JimIslander, continue to uphold the fine oratorical traditions of the infantile, immature, bedwetting Democrats. If you can't defeat them with ideas, break out the invectives.
"When you have no basis for an argument, abuse the plaintiff."
Cicero,
Liberalism is a mental Disorder.
Posted by guidedbystewart on November 20, 2008 at 8:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
B_Fwank or RW can use a thesaurus,
Welfare reform was a bipartisan effort and Clinton could have vetoed it but he didn’t.
Yes, not capturing Bin Laden was a mistake on Clinton's part, but 9/11 happened under Bush’s watch, and was a wake up call more than anything. Besides, 9/11 was not as much as the president’s or the administration's fault as it was the fault of lack of communication between the FBI and the CIA.
Posted by yird on November 20, 2008 at 8:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
B_Fwank,
JimIslander has the intelligence of an adolescent grasshopper.
He has willingly staked his future on the integrity of stalwarts like Barney Frank and Jamie Gorlick.
Go back 25 years to find Dems with experience?
There are plenty of them with lots of experience at implementing budget busting socialist programs in their quest for votes.
Don't give him facts, he can only respond in the same manner as I have at the top of this post!
Posted by yird on November 20, 2008 at 8:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)
guidedbystewart; would you care to expound on that of "lack of communication between the FBI and the CIA."?
Posted by B_Fwank on November 20, 2008 at 8:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)
guided, you mean the lack of communication instituted by a Clinton appointees Gorelick & Reno?
"At issue is the pre-Patriot Act "wall" that prevented communication between intelligence agents and criminal investigators--a wall, Mr. Ashcroft said, that meant "the old national intelligence system in place on September 11 was destined to fail." The Attorney General explained:
"In the days before September 11, the wall specifically impeded the investigation into Zacarias Moussaoui, Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi. After the FBI arrested Moussaoui, agents became suspicious of his interest in commercial aircraft and sought approval for a criminal warrant to search his computer. The warrant was rejected because FBI officials feared breaching the wall.
"When the CIA finally told the FBI that al-Midhar and al-Hazmi were in the country in late August, agents in New York searched for the suspects. But because of the wall, FBI headquarters refused to allow criminal investigators who knew the most about the most recent al Qaeda attack to join the hunt for the suspected terrorists.
Ms. White was then the lead prosecutor in cases related to the Trade Center bombing. Ms. Gorelick explicitly references United States v. Yousef and United States v. Rahman--cases that might have greatly expanded our pre-9/11 understanding of al Qaeda had investigators been given a freer hand. The memo is a clear indication that there was pressure then for more intelligence sharing. Ms. Gorelick's response is an unequivocal "no":
"We believe that it is prudent to establish a set of instructions that will more clearly separate the counterintelligence investigation from the more limited, but continued, criminal investigations. These procedures, which go beyond what is legally required, will prevent any risk of creating an unwarranted appearance that FISA is being used to avoid procedural safeguards which would apply in a criminal investigation" (emphases added).
In case anyone was in doubt, Janet Reno herself affirmed the policy several months later in a July 19, 1995, memo that we have unearthed. In it, the then-Attorney General instructs all U.S. Attorneys about avoiding "the appearance" of overlap between intelligence-related activities and law-enforcement operations."
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/...
Posted by B_Fwank on November 20, 2008 at 8:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"Recall, too, that during the time of Ms. Gorelick's 1995 memo, the issue causing the most tension between the Reno-Gorelick Justice Department and Director Freeh's FBI was not counterterrorism but widely reported allegations of contributions to the Clinton-Gore campaign from foreign sources, involving the likes of John Huang and Charlie Trie. Mr. Trie later told investigators that between 1994 and 1996 he raised some $1.2 million, much of it from foreign sources, whose identities were hidden by straw donors. Ms. Gorelick resigned as deputy attorney general in 1997 to become vice chairman of Fannie Mae."
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/...
Posted by B_Fwank on November 20, 2008 at 8:56 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"From any reasonably objective point of view, the Gorelick memo has to count as by far the biggest news so far out of the 9/11 hearings. The Mary Jo White prosecutions and the 2001 Moussaoui arrest were among our best chances to uncover and unravel the al Qaeda network before it struck the homeland. But thanks in part to the Clinton Administration's concern with appearances and in part to its legacy, these investigations were hamstrung."
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/...
http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp...
Posted by B_Fwank on November 20, 2008 at 8:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
you were saying guided? If the buck stops with Bush, then it had to stop with Clinton also.
Posted by B_Fwank on November 20, 2008 at 9:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)
yes indeed, Barney Fwank is a finacial genius;
Fannie Mae's Patron Saint
"Taxpayers are now on the hook for as much as $200 billion to rescue Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and if you want to know why, look no further than the rapid response to this bailout from House baron Barney Frank.
There you have the Fannie Mae problem in profile. Mr. Frank wants you to pick up the tab for its failures, while he still vows to block a reform that might prevent the same disaster from happening again."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB12209179...
http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0oGkw4ZbiVJ.C...
Posted by guidedbystewart on November 20, 2008 at 9:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Read the 9/11 report (done by a bipartisan commission) yird, it is all there.
Sure, Clinton could have taken Bin Laden, but he would have had to take out civilians in the process, and sorry, crystal balls are a myth and we still did not have a chance to look into the future to see the 9/11 was going to happen.
Hindsight is 20/20.
Sure there was mistakes made, but hopefully we learned from them, I doubt that anything would have been done different under the republicans watch.
Posted by yird on November 20, 2008 at 9:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Frank and Chris Dodd D/Conn are the two most culpable characters for the Fannie May, Freddie Mac, meltdown.
You cannot possibly be so uninformed that you are not aware of that.
Frank is still in denial. Both he and Dodd ought to be imprisoned for what they have done to this country.
You said he knows his job. Just what do YOU think his job is?
Posted by B_Fwank on November 20, 2008 at 9:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The article is about Clinton appointees in an OBama white house, they were a disaster when it came to national security, and they will be again.
The irony is the "change' that Obama promised, there is none, no new people no new ideas, just the same failed policies of socialism and same failed people that tried to implemented them.
Posted by yird on November 20, 2008 at 9:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)
guided, your response is smokescreen and poor quality at that.
Lack of communication!!!!!!
Please recall Jamie Gorelick who by the way was a member of the illustrious 911 commission.
Read B_Fwank's post.
If you can't get it right best leave it alone.
Posted by B_Fwank on November 20, 2008 at 9:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
jimbo, I give you the link, read the entire article. But of course we all know that you and your kind care not for the truth, but care only for the continued feeding of your bush hate and anti-american soundbites.
In the end, you will still be a miserable, and un-happy troll that thrives on the expansion of misery to others that are successfull.
Liberalism is a mental disorder after all.
Posted by guidedbystewart on November 20, 2008 at 9:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
yird,
Like I said, it is in the report.
I could maybe look up the report online, but I do not have the time to go through 585 pages.
Beside, cut and pasting is not my style.... but if you have some time to read (I know something republicans rarely do) here is the report, merry christmas..
http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911...
I have read the report and it is all in there, the lack of communication, the mistakes, etc. etc.
Posted by SimplyMad on November 20, 2008 at 10:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
President-elect promised change, picking insiders
Nov 20, 7:14 AM (ET)
By KEVIN FREKING
WASHINGTON (AP) - President-elect Barack Obama promised the voters change but has started his Cabinet selection process by naming several Washington insiders to top posts.
Obama is enlisting former Senate leader Tom Daschle as his health secretary. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a well-known Washington personality, seemed more likely than ever to be his secretary of state. Clinton is deciding whether to take that post as America's top diplomat, her associates said Wednesday
Obama is ready to announce that his attorney general will be Eric Holder, the Justice Department's No. 2 when Clinton's husband was president. Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff, is another veteran of the Clinton White House.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081120...
Posted by yird on November 20, 2008 at 10:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)
guidedbystewart; The only reference I made to the 911 commission/report was the fact that Jamie Gorelick (D) was a membber asking stupid questions when she should have been answering questions.
Since you are uninformed allow me to enlighten you.
Jamie Gorlick was directly responsible for the"wall" of separation that prevented the CIA and FBI from sharing and reconciling the validity of intelligence.
I must admit that I get frustrated with you commercially educated folks who value your own opinions so much that even when your wrong it fails to register.
I've been told by several on various threads about the advantages of a college background.
The evidence is clearly lacking!
Posted by Weeeee on November 20, 2008 at 11:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)
How is Obama appointing all of these Clinton-era people not "more of the same"? Isn't that the very same tag line all you Dems used against McCain?
Posted by LadyTarHeel on November 20, 2008 at 11:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Even if he is appointing some of the same people from the Clinton Administration, don't they have to answer to him now?
Posted by I_Love_d_Peninsula on November 20, 2008 at 1:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
You must remember two year olds.
Our new President must put people in office that are very smart and knowledgeable in that area, which, just read some of these posts.
is very hard to do.
He also needs people who know policy. People how are movers and shakers.
If you had a ship would you hire all newbies are would you look for the best and brightest to compliment?
With the dire state the economy is in,there is no time for training. Get the right people to move us out of this rut.
Do any of you fit the criteria? Never mind, it's beyond your capicity of comprehension.pathetic whiners.
Posted by I_Love_d_Peninsula on November 20, 2008 at 1:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I meant to say, people who are movers and shakers.
Posted by theronce on November 20, 2008 at 1:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
All of this speculation reminds me of the sports page. Brett, are you going to retire after this year. Let's see what he does first. I do not expect to be pleased, but I am quite willing to be wrong and surprised.
Posted by Weeeee on November 20, 2008 at 2:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I love reading posts about people's CAPACITY for this and that because they ALWAYS have: 1) horrible spelling, 2) horrible grammar, and 3) usually come from someone who would rather insult someone than offer an intellectual post on the particular topic.
Whatev. I'm above that. Theronce, I'll give him a chance. That doesn't mean I'm enthusiastic about where we'll end up after he's through.
Posted by yird on November 20, 2008 at 2:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Pelosi, Reed, Clyburn, Dodd, Frank, Schumer, Durban, Hoyer,and Murry just finished a BS session with the timid press corp as they pussyfooted around the auto industry bailout issue.
What a sickening bunch of incompetent weasels. Pelosi says bankruptcy is not an option when in reality it is the only practical one.
These egg sucking democrats do have to keep their union voters happy.
Bankruptcy would allow the auto companies to renegotiate the burdensome union contracts they are presently locked into.
Production line workers averaging $73.00 P/H might have something to do with the inability for our auto companies to compete with the foreign companies who are manufacturing vehicles here in the states and doing just fine.
New slime ball buzzwords, accountability and viability,neither which applies to these fearless leaders of the inept.
Before you morons start spouting your usual chants like "you lost get over it" and other such infantile mantras, let me assure that I know we lost the election.
Now those of us with functioning brains are trying to stop you idiots from losing the country.
Posted by I_Love_d_Peninsula on November 20, 2008 at 3:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Weeeee:
I made spelling errors. So What! what is your CAPACITY FOR POINTING IT OUT? JACK AZX!
Posted by yird on November 20, 2008 at 5:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
GetSerious; I'm so glad your on board.
Your hysterical lunacy is all that keeps you from being an irrelevant twit.
Posted by yird on November 20, 2008 at 7:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
GetSerious;I am definitely the man, boy!
Posted by Time4action on November 20, 2008 at 9 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hang in there guidedbystewart.
Posted by rollo on November 20, 2008 at 9:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)
GetSerious;
The economy was doing just fine until the Dems were voted back into power two years ago.
The downward slide began about the same time the Dems resumed their class warfare with threats to "tax the rich"... Same Old S--t.
If Obama and Congress have their way(as they have stated), the economy will only decline.
Have a problem with $200/mo. residential electricity bills? Obama intends to put coal-fired generators out of business. Good-bye coal industry jobs! Good-bye industrial construction jobs! Good-bye most jobs that require energy!
Hello $1400/mo residential electricity bills, and good luck paying the bills without a job!
Posted by rollo on November 20, 2008 at 9:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Guided by Fictitious Rodent;
It is a proven fact that Jamie Gorlick was the individual who designed the judicial order which placed the barrier to communication between criminal and security intel. Gorlick was appointed by WJ Clinton.
Your continued arguments against known historical fact only re-enforce the idea that you are squirrel bait.
Posted by rollo on November 20, 2008 at 10:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Daschle has served as a lobbyist for many health care special interests!
Obama stated during his campaign that he would have no lobbyists working in his admin.
I guess the "change" Obama was promising was that he would "change" his mind after the election!!!
Posted by yird on November 20, 2008 at 10:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
rollo;
GetSerious is stuck in some sort of mid sixties time warp and is incapable of thinking beyond the parameters laid out by his leftist educators.
I've enjoyed jerking his chain since he's not able to respond to logic.
The poor thing complains about all the partisanship then belittles Palin,Bush,Cindy McCain and anything the Republicans approve of.
He's got a real thing about Palin. I think he's immensely intimidated by her.
What you posted was true but that won't register with him or his programmed com padres.
I'll likely just ignore him from now on, as some others already have.
Posted by B_Fwank on November 21, 2008 at 8:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)
yird, getserious is a 6 time boted clown. He is a troll like jimislander, aka johnq aka spankurbuns. they are here just to incite. IGNORE THE TROLLs.
getserious enjoys jerking chains too, in his mommies basement.
Posted by a_set_love on November 22, 2008 at 11:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Even though "0", the Zebra, soon to be President for life, has a lot of well qualified black men and women to chose from he has already filled his inner circle of Cabinet and Advisers with loser whites from "Slick Willies" government.
Change?????
This tells me he has all intent to replay the disaster years of Clinton. He intends to govern from his "White" side.
Posted by a_set_love on November 22, 2008 at noon (Suggest removal)
Posted by guidedbystewart on November 20, 2008 at 7:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Well, the economy was way better eight years ago than we are now.... Besides, Clinton was a good president in my book.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The "IMPEACHED" President Clinton, under oath, stated, "I did not have sex with that woman, Monica ...". Then the truth hit him square in the ............... eyes. The blue dress was reveled to America.
Under oath, the "IMPEACHED" President Clinton says, "it all depends on what the meaning of the word is, is."
Mrs. Bill Clinton ordered him to lie to America and deny all the White House Affairs, it seems he was having every woman but her.
Mrs. Bill Clinton is now to be picked as Secretary of State??
I don't need to wait to see what the Liberal, Socialist President "0" will do after January 20, 2009. He has already shown me enough.