Tom Daschle as Secretary of Department of Health and Human Services

I truly wish that Obama had chosen Doctor Howard Dean to head this important cabinet position, not just because he is a physician and his wife is a physician, but because he also was the groundbreaking Governor of Vermont who actually was the first to provide health care to every child in that state. He did it.

Tom and Linda Daschle both have a very long history of mega-lobbying, even for the health care corporations which I find very troubling. Neither are physicians and while I can only hope for the best now that their past is not prologue of what will be, I wonder if I am alone in my concern. Is Daschle the best person for this position?

Even today, Hillary Clinton is looking into Bush's last moves with this very Department to curtail the reproductive rights of women. Considering that Tom Daschle voted for making late term abortions illegal even without an exception for the life of the mother, is Daschle the best person for this position?

Thus far, Obama's choices have been very encouraging to me, although I have yet to see a single Latino appointed to a key position.

Are you happy with the Daschle choice to head the Department of Health and Human Services? I hope that the Senate will weigh in and that there is still a chance for Obama to appoint someone else.

We should be a meritocracy at this point

I've never liked him...but maybe there's another side of him that I don't know. I'm sort a "fence sitter" on his appointment. So, I didn't answer your poll...because I'm still thinking about it.

Clearly, Tom and Linda were embarrassed enough to remove themselves from some of their business activities. Will that be enough?

Daschle will be the most compromised member of Obama's top staff. I hope he knows that there are a lot of us who are watching him.

Certainly, our history is filled with Cabinet heads who have embarrassed their President and shamed themselves. I don't want this to happen to President Obama for Obama's sake, for the nation's sake and for the Democratic Party's sake.

The GOP is just waiting for a scandal. If one bubbles up, it will be from Tom and Linda. They are very comfortable with buying and selling influence in Washington. Like Wendy and Phil Gramm, they made their fortunes doing it.

Obama's mission to not have "lobbyists, or spouses of lobbyists" in his Administration. Some of the "Lefty Sites" were questioning how he could hire Daschle with his wife and yet hold the rest of his appointees to the standards he set.

I wasn't sure how he would answer that. I will wait until he explains it. Until then..I'm just not sure about this.

Daschle has been sort of a wet handshake in past leadership roles, but generally, I support him.

I really want to see former Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber play a role in the Obama Administration. He's a full-on doctor, too. Since ending his two terms as Governor, Kitzhaber founded the Archimedes Movement and has worked tirelessly to reform Healthcare. I would not be surprised if some of what we will soon see in the development of universal healthcare has its seeds in Kitzhaber's (and Oregon's) accomplishments during his governorship.

Plus, look at the guy. He's practically presidential himself.

I do *not* want HRC as SoS. She should have been HHS.

But Daschle is okay. I just didn't envision him as an Obama cabinet member.