Dash Daschle

An open letter to the President

Dear President Obama:


We all listened to you during your speech at John Kerry's Convention; we listened during the primaries; we listened during your Democrat Convention speech; we listened during the debates; we listened during your Election night victory speech, we listened during your Inauguration speech.  We heard what you have said.

"Don't tell me words don't matter,". "'I have a dream.' Just words? 'We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal.' Just words? 'We have nothing to fear but fear itself.' Just words? Just speeches?" 

You spoke about eliminating lobbyists in your administration, and changing Washington’s “entire culture” in which “our leaders have thrown open the doors of Congress and the White House to an army of Washington lobbyists who have turned our government into a game only they can afford to play.” You vowed to “close the revolving door” and “clean up both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue” with “the most sweeping ethics reform in history.”


We now know that you don't keep your word when it's inconvenient.  Convenience trumps your words, convenience trumps ethics, convenience trumps the peoples' sensibilities.  Is this the change you promised?


Tim Geithner, selected to be the head of the Treasury Department and responsible for our Internal Revenue Service, shown to be a tax evader - no problem.  Choosing someone else would be inconvenient.


Tom Daschle, selected to be head of Health and Human Services, a lobbyist in all but name, married to a named lobbyist, and now shown to be a tax cheat and and a tax evader.....no problem.   
Your comment to the question on whether or not you still support his nomination, "Absolutly!".


We all listened to you, and heard your words.  Now we are watching.  So far, your actions don't match your words.  


Now here are some words to you: withdraw Tom Daschle's nomination.  His nomination is an affront to the American people and a stain on your integrity.  

“Is this really the message he wants to convey to voters in just his first month in office, a message that it’s O.K. to break or skirt the law just as long as you’re a good guy with a special skill set?” asked Andy Ostroy, a blogger writing on The Huffington Post, a liberal Web site.

Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation, a liberal magazine, said Mr. Obama should withdraw Mr. Daschle’s nomination to “revive the change brand he campaigned and won on.”

When even the NY Times suggests that you should withdraw him, even you must know that the game is up.