Tom Daschle

by Lance Thompson

It’s impossible to know whether hindsight will assess the current administration as the most corrupt, the most inept, or the most dangerous in history, but there is certainly an opportunity for Obama to rate highest in all three categories and claim the Triple Crown.

In the corruption column, Obama moved quickly to fill his cabinet and administration with tax cheats (Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner) and terrorist sympathizers (Attorney General Eric Holder and National Intelligence Council chief Charles Freeman).  The only reason there aren’t more criminals in the administration is that several nominees withdrew their names when their questionable pasts were exposed–Governor Bill Richardson (under federal investigation for trading state contracts for campaign contributions) and one-time Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and private consultant Nancy Killefer (tax troubles for both).  Harold Koh, Obama’s pick for the State Department’s legal advisor, finds nothing wrong with applying Muslim Sharia law in “appropriate” cases.   Obama has brought the 2010 Census under the control of the White House, and is enlisting the vote-manufacturing experts at ACORN to recruit census takers.  And let’s not forget that Obama campaigned for and signed a stimulus bill that neither he nor many Democrats nor any Republicans in Congress ever read--the most costly single piece of legislation in history.

In qualifying for the ineptitude crown, Obama has demonstrated a supreme lack of diplomatic grace, despite campaigning on the promise to improve America’s image in the world.  He presented the British Prime Minister with movie DVD’s unviewable on European video systems, and the Queen with a video i-pod that included video coverage of his own speeches.  His state department denied the existence of a special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom.   Obama’s recent speeches abroad, besides denigrating American commitment and sacrifice to a free Europe, also demonstrates such a dismal knowledge of 20th Century history and geopolitics that no one could ever doubt his Ivy League education. Obama has also suggested that Americans in uniform provide their own health insurance; subsidized GM, fired its CEO, and then indicated the company may be better off declaring bankruptcy; spent the first few weeks of his presidency declaring the “worst economic crisis since the Great Depression,” then switched to rosy outlooks and predictions once his cripplingly massive spending bills were passed.

But Obama scores highest in the “most dangerous” category:

He vows to rid the American arsenal of nuclear weapons while more rogue regimes than ever before are racing to perfect them.

His answer to a record national debt is to treble and quadruple that debt with mindless spending and unprecedented waste.

He slapped key ally Israel in the face by sending a billion dollars of aid to the terrorist government of Gaza to repair damage inflicted in the recent conflict.

He cravenly offered to bargain away our missile defense of Eastern European states while begging the Russians to cease their military aid to Iran.

He met the defiant launch of a North Korean ICBM with anguished hand-wringing and a complaint to the permanently ineffectual United Nations.

His Defense Secretary strips major military programs from the budget even as every other government program enjoys unprecedented largesse.

Most corrupt, most inept, most dangerous–certainly Obama has competition for any one of these honors from administrations past.  But we have never had a president who scored so highly so quickly in all three categories.  Of course, Obama could jeopardize his chance at the Triple Crown if he were to suddenly demonstrate competence, judgment and integrity.  But personally, I think his lock on the title is unassailable.

  Sometimes when a bomb goes off one oughta ask: who planted it? In the case of the Daschle debacle, no one is asking why his relationship with Leo Hindery suddenly became so problematic and why the Left didn't go to the mattresses for the man who was well positioned --warts and all-- to nationalize American health care.   These things never happen by accident. Someone fed the press and flogged the story. Someone who wanted Daschle to go down hard. And trust me, the Republicans haven't planted a story this good in the DC press in years.   Notice Daschle was sailing towards confirmation until all these details about his links to Leo Hindery came out....beyond just the tax lapses.  

Well, answer this question then. Who in the Democrat Party would be the most motivated to screw Leo Hindery to the wall and take his buddies along with him?

Answer: Someone who was on the receiving end of attack ads paid for by Hindery in a prior campaign, perhaps?

  I notice current Obama flack Robert Gibbs was the front man for this corporate hit group; so now a guy who made a living calling Howard Dean a pinko is explaining why Obama is peachy keen closing down Gitmo. And, of course, Gibbs was the prime cheerleader for Daschle's nomination.  (It's a small world, after all) 

 If Howard Dean and his buddies pulled off this covert op, well, they;ve moved up a notch in my book.   Frankly, I didn't think this white bread WASP had a streak of "Irish Alzheimers"...when a politician gets so old he forgets everything except the grudges. (this disease, BTW ,is why I blog under a pseudonym; too many CT Dems from the 80's and 90's have used my surname as an expletive).

 Even victory doesn't bind up all wounds. The spoils are always worth fighting over.  Watch more battles between the "real Left" and the "corporate Left" akin to the split between the "Official IRA" and the "Provisional IRA".

Americans are going to be busy these next two weeks. Christmas and New Year’s are traditionally a time to spend with family, do last-minute shopping and take a break from the strains of work -- and apparently fix America’s health care system.

That’s right, Tom Daschle wants you to talk about health care over the holidays. President-elect Barack Obama’s nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services has given the country two weeks, including Christmas Day, to provide input on how to improve health care in America.

Daschle doesn’t care if you meet at home, the office or a coffee shop -- just as long as he’s able to boast that the Obama administration listened to Americans. He probably figures it’ll be an easier sell when he proposes his Orwellian “Federal Health Board” to ensure unprecedented government interference in the delivery of care.

Transparency is so key because if we're going to do this right, it's going to mean we have to involve the American people. We have to involve people who have personal stories to tell, who have ideas to share, who have real experiences they can relate to. That is the essence of good legislating.

Daschle's "grassroots" reform discussion is a con -- and we need to expose it as such. Only organized interest groups such as AARP and Families USA will be listened to or even have a chance to be heard when the legislation is drafted. Can you picture Daschle dropping by Starbucks over the next two weeks to hear from real people? It’s ridiculous.

As conservatives, we need to figure out how we’re going to respond to attempts by the Obama administration to use the guise of public feedback to implement liberal policies. That could mean flooding Change.gov with comments from conservative activists or holding our own discussion forums to promote free-market ideas. We could embrace tools like Rebuild the Party’s feedback forum or shape public opinion through popular petitions like Drill Here, Drill Now.

Conservatives don’t have time to waste. On issues like health care and the economy, the Obama administration and liberals in Congress will move quickly next year before their honeymoon ends.