Plenty of room in health care battle for Tom Daschle and Howard Dean

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
by Chad Rubel

Steve Martin had this great routine about how you could be a millionaire and never pay taxes. First you had to get a million dollars. Then when the IRS comes to your door and asks why you've never paid taxes, you say two simple words in the English language: "I forgot."

Seems to be a bit of that going around lately. Tim Geithner had his problems, but did get confirmed. Now Tom Daschle is running into his own problems. (And Nancy Killefer, who failed to pay some employment taxes on household help, has withdrawn her candidacy to be the first chief performance officer.)

To be fair to Daschle, he has paid the taxes back with penalty. In fact, he may have overpaid this time around. But there is still this anger against Cabinet nominees over not properly paying taxes. (Why people are angrier at Daschle than Bernie Madoff or some overpaid Wall Street guy is a topic for another essay.)

But when The New York Times and "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" are both angry about this tax issue, judgment needs to step in.

One issue for progressives is that they see someone waiting on the sidelines, ready to take Daschle's place at HHS: Howard Dean. President Obama could have picked Dean, but felt Daschle was a better pick for getting potential health care legislation through Congress. If the tax scenario eats up Daschle, everyone may get their wish. Progressives could get Dean and Daschle could still be a point person for the legislation since, as an advisor, he wouldn't need to be confirmed by the Senate.

As we have seen in this country, we have a boatload of health issues to wrestle. So it's good to have a point person for getting us closer to decent health care. But we also need someone to handle the rest of the health issues. And Howard Dean would be perfect for that role.

And President Obama has an escape hatch, having already named Daschle to be director of a new White House Office of Health Reform, a job that does not need Senate confirmation.

Given the prerogative, the president should have the person best suited for that post. But in the end, there is plenty of room and loads of problems for Tom Daschle and Howard Dean to both be a part of the process.

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT 

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