Come on. Did Tom Daschle, even with all of his Senate connections, think that he could be a credible Secretary when he not only failed to pay taxes but took so much money for speaking before health care organizations that he was supposed to regulate? I remember NPR’s Coke Roberts trying to protest that taking money from companies for a speaking engagement wouldn’t influence her reporting. That type of response doesn’t pass the red face smell test. Too bad. Most observers think that Daschle would have been a good HHS Secretary. But no person should be above the standards and there was no choice but to withdraw.
As a communicator, I appreciate President Obama taking responsibility and saying, “I screwed up.” It’s better than the “mistakes were made” response other Chief Executives have hidden behind. If the President is asking all of us to take responsibility for our actions, he is taking the responsibility since Sen. Daschle was his appointment. In communications, if there is fault or responsibility, we counsel to own up for the fault. Then most of us care about what are you doing to fix the situation.