President Barack Obama has admitted that he made a mistake in handling the nomination of Tom Daschle. Daschle had been tapped by President Obama as his choice for Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services until revelations that Daschle had made a number of errors on his taxes were made public. Daschle called the omissions honest mistakes and recently paid back the taxes and interest.
Many taxpayers (including this one) felt it was a little too little, too late.
Obama seems to agree. He told CNN’s Anderson Cooper, “I think I screwed up. And, I take responsibility for it and we’re going to make sure we fix it so it doesn’t happen again.” He later said, “…I don’t want to send a message to the American people that there are two sets of standards — one for powerful people and one for ordinary folks who are working every day and paying their taxes.”
Of course, that’s exactly what you guys were saying on the blog. And that’s exactly what it looked like.
The video is no longer up, but you can read the transcript here.
Wow, what a departure from the previous administration. “I made a mistake” is a phrase that may have never passed through the past president and vice president’s lips.