Has Daschle Gone Rogue?

Has Daschle Gone Rogue?

by Richard Wolffe

Tom Daschle, Obama's original pick to overhaul the health care system, is now floating a rival plan, to the chagrin of some in the administration. The Daily Beast's Richard Wolffe asks the president's failed health nominee which side he's on.



He was supposed to be at the heart of the health-care debate, shuttling between his White House office, the halls of Congress, and his expansive Cabinet secretary’s suite. Instead Tom Daschle, the former Democratic leader in the Senate and prominent advocate for health reform, is shaping the contentious debate through the advisory job that derailed his nomination as Obama’s first pick for Health secretary. And it's a shape that the president doesn't currently accept.

“This is difficult stuff,” he tells me. “It’s not easy. There’s no painless way to reach compromise. There’s no painless way to reach the revenue targets we’re trying to reach. I don’t mind taking heat. I guess I feel I took plenty of heat when I was leading the Senate. It comes with the territory. You have to accept the fact that you’re not going to please everybody.”

The reason he’s not pleasing Obama right now: the reform blueprint he negotiated with two former GOP Senate leaders, Bob Dole and Howard Baker. It includes compromises that some Democrats, including several inside the White House, are still uncomfortable with.

(Daschle works at the D.C. office of Alston & Bird, a corporate law and lobbying firm headquartered in Atlanta. He is not a registered lobbyist, meaning he cannot approach government officials on behalf of his clients. He can, however, advise the firm's clients, which include several major health care companies and organizations.)

Daschle’s big compromise was to weaken the so-called public option, making the federal government a fallback in case state governments fail to establish so-called insurance exchanges. Those exchanges are intended to allow patients to compare plans in a clear way, encouraging more competition between insurers to drive down costs.

In return, Daschle felt that his Republican counterparts dropped their opposition to universal coverage, and especially mandates for companies and individuals—which would levy fees or taxes on those who don’t offer coverage or take up insurance.

The headlines and commentary about Daschle’s compromises were not exactly positive. “Daschle Folds on Federal Public Health-Care Plan,” wrote ABC’s The Note. “Daschle reluctantly agreed that there would be no federal-government plan,” wrote The Washington Post’s veteran columnist David Broder. Another point of criticism: the fact that he continues shaping policy, including talking on background to reporters and commentators and sharing his expert analysis to his clients, via the job that derailed his nomination as Obama’s first pick for Health and Human Services secretary: special public-policy adviser at the law firm Alston & Bird.


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http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-06-28/whose-side-is-daschle-on/full/

could that person be--chief of staff rahm emanuel? the emanuel brothers who are dead set against any public option?

"et tu,brute?"

He was the one who said "It's easier to run without a record than to defend one" more or less.

Daschle was one of Obama's mentors. That's why he was offered the job. Rahm had nothing to do with it.

Why do people always do the "Evil Rahm" thing here? It's tiresome.

When Daschle was helping Obama with his campaign, Rahm was staying neutral because he's from Obama's home state AND a Clinton friend.

From him putting his paws on it and pushing/shoving it through.

Rahm, people don't seem to realize "is" Obama. He's Obama's "Man on the Ground." When Rahm speaks, he expresses the desires of Obama. He is subservient to the President in every respect. He's not Obama's nemesis--he is an extension of Obama who can cajole, persuade, con and threaten on the Hill.

Rahm has to be the guy who is the asshole--it's his job, and he has put his own ambitions aside (he was "on track" to follow Pelosi into the Speaker's job, assuming she lasted awhile, and Steny didn't want his turn at the tiller). That would have made him the first Jewish Speaker, which is a big deal.

Not everyone can be Mister Sweetness And Light. Someone has to do the bullying body work. Rahm does it well, and what I like about him is that he never, unlike Rove, uses more force than is absolutely necessary. He starts out trying to deal--he only pushes when there's no other option left.