President Obama News Thread

[Butterfly]

Extrajudicial renditions?

Yes We Can

for how long ?

[Cujo]

Not so much Obama news as his government news.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle admits he is "embarrassed," as well he might be. Daschle has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing. But he admits to not having paid $128,000 in back taxes until the very last minute before being proposed as President Barack Obama's secretary of health and human services. "I apologize for the errors and profoundly regret that you have had to devote time to them," Daschle, the former Democratic senator from South Dakota, wrote in a letter Sunday to the Senate Finance Committee.
Daschle was scheduled to appear before the Finance Committee Monday as they consider his nomination for secretary. In addition to his tax problems he will face questions about whether he took gifts and trips from charities.
Daschle is now the second [COLOR=#0072BC ! important][COLOR=#0072BC ! important]Obama[/COLOR][/COLOR] nominee to a Cabinet position who has had tax problems -- giving perhaps a new meaning to tax oversight. Then there are the president's new higher standards for lobbying rules that, it appears, are to be applied strictly except when it is very convenient not to, as in the nomination of William Lynn as deputy secretary of defense. Less than two weeks into the new presidency, therefore, questions already are being asked whether Obama's push for higher ethical standards in government is more rhetoric than substance.
Normally, prominent former senators like the widely liked and respected Daschle sail through confirmation hearings. The U.S. Senate has withered as a serious body for putting any check on the Executive Branch in recent decades, particularly in the conduct of U.S. foreign policy and wars. But it still functions well as a club and it always takes care of its own.
Daschle should have been a shoo-in for confirmation and still may get it. But his exposure as someone who held off paying taxes until the last minute comes in the middle of a wave of corruption scandals and conflict-of-interest embarrassments that are flustering what previously had been an exceptionally smooth and successful presidential transition.
Highly respected New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson pulled out of consideration for the post of commerce secretary because of unspecified "conflict of interest" issues. And while Timothy Geithner was confirmed as treasury secretary last week, it was only after revelations that he hadn't paid some back taxes either, even though he had been informed repeatedly of the problem and was well aware of it.
Potentially major and successful Cabinet careers have been destroyed for far less. Zoe Baird was eminently qualified to be President Bill Clinton's attorney general, but she hired an illegal [COLOR=#0072BC ! important][COLOR=#0072BC ! important]immigrant[/COLOR][/COLOR]
as her nanny. Similar issues torpedoed the nomination of her would-be successor, and instead the job went to Janet Reno, who was widely accused of being one of the most incompetent and disastrous attorneys general in modern U.S. history.
Among many other bungles and embarrassments, the deaths of cultists in a FBI raid on their enclave in Waco, Texas, occurred on Reno's watch. She also imposed a disastrous ban on sharing of information between the CIA and the FBI that helped make possible the success of the al-Qaida terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, that killed 3,000 Americans. When a succession of well-qualified candidates for high office are excluded, the entire country usually pays the price in the mistakes non-controversial but more mediocre candidates often make when they are confirmed in office.
Richardson and Daschle are about as well qualified in terms of experience, success in their previous posts and widely held professional respect and esteem from their peers as it is possible to get in Washington. But their current woes demonstrate why Obama's call for far higher ethical standards is necessary -- and why it will be so difficult to enforce those standards.
The Republicans swept to power in Congress in 1994 after exposing the genuine corruption, incompetence and fecklessness of the [COLOR=#0072BC ! important][COLOR=#0072BC ! important]Democrats[/COLOR][/COLOR] who had ruled the roost in the House of Representatives for an unprecedented 40 years. But after 12 years in power, the GOP had amassed a record that many critics believed was far worse. However, since the Democrats regained control of both the House and the Senate in 2006, it's been business as usual.
Daschle, Geithner, Lynn and Richardson all have genuinely impressive records. They have earned serious respect in their careers that they deserve. But that should not give them a free ride or the ability to live by double standards. The problems of conflict of interest, double standards and free rides for the powerful and well-connected run deep in Washington and cross all conventional political and ideological lines. The president is right to highlight and tackle a problem that has been complacently ignored on all sides for far too long. But it's still easier said than done.


© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Daschle behavior typical of Washington insiders - UPI.com

[Bugs]

Here is an interesting piece from someone who is a blue team supporter none the less:

Andy Ostroy: Why Obama Must Drop Daschle

President Barack Obama wants former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. There's just one snag: Daschle hadn't disclosed that he failed to pay $128,000 in taxes on the car and driver provided for him by Alston & Bird, the D.C. law and lobbying firm where he served as Special Public Policy Advisor to various health-care clients since 2005.

Then there's Tim Geithner, Obama's choice for Treasury Secretary, who is a former executive (2001-2003) of the International Monetary Fund, where he failed to pay $15,000 in Social Security taxes; taxes he was responsible for paying the government directly, since the IMF did not withhold them from his paychecks. He recently paid the tax plus almost $2000 in interest, but no penalties.

And in an effort to cleanse Washington from its diseased influence from special interests -- rampant under the Bush administration -- Obama announced strict new rules limiting lobbyist activity, promising that "no political appointees in an Obama administration will be permitted to work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years." The only problem was that just 24 hours later he appointed William Lynn III, a former lobbyist for U.S. defense contractor, Raytheon, to be a Deputy Secretary of Defense.

With these questionable appointments, the prevailing White House justification has been that each candidate is "uniquely qualified" for the job. But is that really good enough? Is that what Obama meant when he promised America that he was bringing a new moral and ethical standard to Washington in the post-Bush era? Is this really the message he wants to convey to voters in just his fist month in office; a message that it's ok to break or skirt the law just as long as you're a good guy with a special skill-set? Or that it's ok, as in the case with Lynn, to bend your own rules when it suits you?

The answer, of course, is no. Obama has an opportunity with Daschle to get his mission back on course, and to to deliver on his promise to hold his staff to higher standards. He should lead by example, and that means withdrawing the former Senate Majority/Minority Leader's nomination immediately before the soup gets too thick and he gives Republicans too much ammo in their opposition role.
Let's face it, there's plenty of folks who can fill Daschle's post. He's an extraneous piece of the Obama puzzle. He's simply not worth the fight; not worth the potential damage to Obama's reputation. Unlike Geithner, who's former role as head of the New York Fed makes him supremely qualified to help steer the nation through this deep economic and banking crisis, Daschle is expendable. Now don't get me wrong: I'm not justifying Geithner's appointment because he is "uniquely qualified.". The point is, if Obama wants to score points with voters and immediately shift the PR momentum, he can do so and still end up with the guy he really needs by casting off the one he doesn't. It's a smart political move.

The funny thing for me is that for my two bits the tax issue should have been a much bigger issue for Geithner (since he is now is in charge of the section of government that runs the IRS), and less of an issue for Daschle - but for some reason it is the reverse?

[Cujo]

he appointed William Lynn III, a former lobbyist for U.S. defense contractor, Raytheon, to be a Deputy Secretary of Defense.

I bet the boys at Raytheon are celebrating their forthcoming contracts already.

[Panda]

^Its only fair that everybody should get a turn.

[blackgang]

I don't understand the dating as BG says they made specific reference to Obama in the story and I can't see why that would have been done at that point as he wasn't even a gleam in his campaign fathers eye

If you watched it as I did then you will hear that "he never even weighed in on it"
so from that I think it means he abstained from voting one way or the other.

there is none of my words in that vid.

[DrivingForce]

I don't understand the dating as BG says they made specific reference to Obama in the story and I can't see why that would have been done at that point as he wasn't even a gleam in his campaign fathers eye

If you watched it as I did then you will hear that "he never even weighed in on it"
so from that I think it means he abstained from voting one way or the other.

there is none of my words in that vid.

i did watch it BG and my post is based on the words in the vid, not yours..
I'm referring to Pandas date reference being long before Obama was even considered for office..anyway it's all twisted into a nice knot at this point..

[DrivingForce]

Though not confirmed and name withdrawn this is the third appointee with tax issues... This is becoming a world class embarrassment... Hell! just give him a toke on the bong that's all that's needed now.... And all in financial advisory capacities no less.. Yes we can!

Print Story: Obama performance chief Killefer out, citing taxes - Yahoo! News

Obama performance chief Killefer out, citing taxes

By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN and LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer Michael J. Sniffen And Liz Sidoti, Associated Press Writer 29 mins ago
WASHINGTON – Nancy Killefer, who failed for a year and a half to pay employment taxes on household help, withdrew her candidacy to be the first chief performance officer for the federal government on Tuesday.
Killefer was the second major Obama administration nominee to withdraw and the third to have tax problems complicate nominations after President Barack Obama announced he had chosen them.
In a brief letter to Obama, the 55-year-old executive with consulting giant McKinsey & Co. wrote that she had "come to realize in the current environment that my personal tax issue of D.C. unemployment tax could be used to create exactly the kind of distraction and delay" that must be avoided in responding to urgent economic problems.
She offered no further details of her tax difficulties.
Obama took no questions Tuesday after announcing his choice of Sen. Judd Gregg to be commerce secretary. He left the White House lectern ignoring a shouted question about why so many of his nominees have tax problems.
When Killefer's selection was announced by Obama on Jan. 7, The Associated Press disclosed that in 2005 the District of Columbia government had filed a $946.69 tax lien on her home for failure to pay unemployment compensation tax on household help. Since then, administration officials have refused to answer questions about the tax error, which she resolved five months after the lien was filed.
Obama's first choice for commerce secretary, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, took his name out of consideration when his confirmation appeared headed toward complications because of a grand jury investigation over how state contracts were issued to political donors.
More recently, Timothy Geithner was confirmed as treasury secretary despite belatedly paying $34,000 in income taxes, and Tom Daschle is still waiting to see if his late payment of more than $128,000 in income taxes will harm his nomination to be health and human services secretary.
On paper, Killefer brought impressive credentials to the two jobs Obama selected her for: deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, which requires Senate confirmation, and a new White House post, chief performance officer for the entire federal government, which does not require confirmation.
Killefer oversees McKinsey's management consulting for government clients. During 1997-2000 in the Clinton administration, she was assistant treasury secretary for management. As such she was the chief financial officer and chief operating officer for the Treasury Department and its 160,000 employees, and she led a modernization of its largest component, the Internal Revenue Service.
The AP reported that on March 7, 2005, the D.C. Department of Employment Services slapped a tax lien on her home in the upscale Wesley Heights neighborhood. The local government alleged that beginning three years after she left the high-powered Treasury post she failed to pay unemployment compensation tax for a household employee. She failed to make the required quarterly payments for a year and half, the D.C. government said, whereupon a lien for $946.69 was placed on her home.
That sum included $298 in unpaid taxes, $48.69 in interest and $600 in penalties. Killefer didn't get the lien extinguished for almost five months, until July 29, 2005.
During that period, Killefer and her husband, an economics professor, had two nannies to help care for their teenage son and daughter, and she had a personal assistant to run things when she was on the road, she told Harvard business students back then.
Ignoring payroll taxes on household help has sunk nominees before. Failure to pay Social Security taxes for a nanny and chauffeur kept corporate lawyer Zoe Baird from becoming President Bill Clinton's attorney general in 1993. Similar problems either blocked or bedeviled other nominees. Still others overcame them, including Shirley S. Chater, the university president who was confirmed to head the Social Security Administration under Clinton despite failing to pay Social Security taxes for a part-time baby sitter.
Bobby Tucker, chief of D.C.'s unemployment insurance tax division, said filing tax liens is "not a common practice" for his office. D.C. law authorizes such liens when an employer "neglects and refuses" to pay the levy that helps pay for unemployment benefits for those laid off or fired. Tucker said his auditors have discretion to use tax liens based on "the number of attempts to collect contributions owed, whether or not the employer responds to written attempts, phone calls and-or in-person visits" to collect the tax.
Tucker said, however, that his department's lawyers would not let him discuss the specifics of Killefer's case.
White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said simply on Tuesday, "Nancy Killefer has decided to withdraw her nomination, and we accepted her withdrawal. Since acknowledging Killefer's unemployment tax error on Jan. 7, Vietor had declined to amplify or answer followup questions, saying he couldn't respond because she was still completing the Obama transition team's questionnaire for nominees.
Her nomination was never formally sent to Congress. And Killefer herself did not respond to messages left for her.

[Texpat]

Daschle's done.

All together now: Can we pay our taxes?

~ No we can't! ~

[Jet Gorgon]

555555555 I thought libbies loved their taxes. Guess they just don't like to pay them. Geithner is the worst-case scenario. I guess we should be happy someone is vetting them and making them come clean.

[Bugs]

It was a two-fer day in DC it seems. Daschle stepped down for consideration for a post and so did Nancy Killefer.

I'll give Obama some credit for admiting that he screwed up, but only partial credit cause he should have pulled the plug on it earlier.

Obama: 'I screwed up' in Daschle withdrawal - White House- msnbc.com

WASHINGTON - “I screwed up,” President Barack Obama told NBC’s Brian Williams Tuesday in the wake of his nominee to be secretary of health and human services, Tom Daschle, withdrawing his name from consideration.

Nancy Killefer, Obama’s choice to be the government's first “chief performance officer,” bowed out, saying that she didn't want her failure to payroll taxes for her household employee to create a diversion from the president’s agenda.

[raycarey]

all things considered, he probably should have stepped down....and i'm sure everyone here fully realizes that the dems could have easily rammed his nomination through the senate to confirmation....but they chose not to.

[Bugs]

....the dems could have easily rammed his nomination through the senate to confirmation....but they chose not to.

Sure they could have rammed his nomination thru, but I don't think it would have been easy, and it would have been even more of a distraction than it had already become - and I think that is why Daschel withdrew his finally withdrew.

Additionally I think Obama ramming thru any of his nominations would have a very negative impact on his continued request for bipartisan politics.

[Norton]

I'll give Obama some credit for admiting that he screwed up, but only partial credit cause he should have pulled the plug on it earlier.

Obama should have pulled his name earlier but better if he and Daschel had never even put his name in nomination. All an underestimation of the push back risk regarding the tax issue vs Daschel's unquestionable qualifications for the job.

Finding the "perfect" person for any post in government is problematic given most will have something in their background which can and will be used to discredit them.

Unfortunately, not much has changed since Diogenes day!

[raycarey]

....the dems could have easily rammed his nomination through the senate to confirmation....but they chose not to.

Additionally I think Obama ramming thru any of his nominations would have a very negative impact on his continued request for bipartisan politics.

yes, obama chose not to ram this nomination through because he put the nation ahead of his political party.

it's a refreshing change.

[Bugs]

....the dems could have easily rammed his nomination through the senate to confirmation....but they chose not to.

Additionally I think Obama ramming thru any of his nominations would have a very negative impact on his continued request for bipartisan politics.

yes, obama chose not to ram this nomination through because he put the nation ahead of his political party.

it's a refreshing change.

More like Obama made the choice to not ram his nomination thru because he realized the political cost was too high, and thus is just more politics as usual.

If he would have been placing the country before his party he would not have nominated the guy or would have withdrawn the nomination as soon as the tax issue became public. Instead just about 24 hours ago Obama was making statments about how he was still saying he was "absolutley" committed to Dashle. Only after Daschle withdrew did Obama step-up to the plate and admit he screwed up - more politics as usual.

From the linky in my earlier post:

The admission came little more than 24 hours after Obama had said he was "absolutely" committed to Daschle's confirmation as secretary of health and human services

[sabang]

It is a bit of an embarassment to Obama to have to have had three withdrawals from senior posts, and frankly a blow with respect to Daschle- who seemed just perfect for healthcare. I must admit, I've got mixed feelings about this- he's been slapped with back taxes which he has to pay, is that really considered a serious enough offense to withdraw a nomination to a government post? Heck, that means myself and most people I know wouldn't stand a chance- with taxes you push the envelope here and there, see what you can get away with, and if something is disallowed as a deduction, or some perk is judged to be a taxable benefit you just take it on the chin- all part of the game, I thought.

Otoh, Obama publicly set high ethical standards for his team so I guess I can't fault him for sticking by them- it just seems a bit tough for this to include an income tax wrangle- not like he was running an organised tax avoidance scam or sumfin.

[DrivingForce]

Obama should have pulled his name earlier but better if he and Daschel had never even put his name in nomination.

That's the key, another severe case of nativity, they were obviously both hoping it would slide under the radar....and that sort of intentional attempt at deception was what Obama ran his entire campaign on and now it's not as easy to slip it past the media and masses as he is under the microscope without other distractions in play..

More like Obama made the choice to not ram his nomination thru because he realized the political cost was too high, and thus is just more politics as usual.

If he would have been placing the country before his party he would not have nominated the guy or would have withdrawn the nomination as soon as the tax issue became public. Instead just about 24 hours ago Obama was making statments about how he was still saying he was "absolutley" committed to Dashle. Only after Daschle withdrew did Obama step-up to the plate and admit he screwed up - more politics as usual.

Score another one for the reality team over the fantasy Presidential league.....

[Texpat]

Heck, that means myself and most people I know wouldn't stand a chance

If you have a shred of integrity, you pay your taxes owed.

Not everyone is so prone to being a cheat.

What was the phrase you used -- if you lie with dogs...

Illegal drugs: hmpff
Taxes: fuggeaboudit

You might make a decent liberal democrat after all.

[DrivingForce]

not like he was running an organised tax avoidance scam or sumfin.

sure appears that way though, and as for "we all do it" that's not the case only those who can afford to take chances do it, the ones who have the financial ability to push the envelope and then when it catches up with them they can afford to buy their way out of it...
But in terms of government officials and representatives this should never happen it's inexcusable, it's a blatant attempt at cheating and nothing less.. something those same officials would gladly fry me for and smile the entire time maintaining their own smug superiority, arrogance and hypocrisy and I for one am glad to see them being taken down a few steps, unfortunately the little guy wouldn't be able to buy his way out so easily and still has to face a firing squad and vilification for trying to do the same thing to advance themselves..

[sabang]

If you have a shred of integrity, you pay your taxes owed.

You miss my point- yes, you pay your taxes owed, but after you have been asssessed on them. Within the law, you also try to pay no more tax than you have to. Sometimes you might try to get a deduction that is disallowed, or trimmed. Thats part of the game- and, if knocked back, you pay that tax (or appeal the ruling). There is nothing illegal or unethical about that- and some peoples tax affairs are a lot more complex than others, for example when I was in the military it was a lot more straightforward than when I was flying all over the place- paid for out of my pocket- to drum up business.

[DrivingForce]

you're forgetting or discounting for convenience sake that his tax avoidance is in the amount of $120,000, that isn't an 'oversight' it's intentional dodging..we're not as naive as his interviewer was..

[sabang]

^ Daschle is presumably a well paid bloke- the amount of $120k doesn't faze me when other people can have back-tax rulings running into millions. For accepting a car and driver from some fund manager- I'm not pretending to know much about US tax, but the way my accountant would have looked at that is "did accepting that perk tangibly help you earn your income?". If yes, taxable or part taxable, if not nothing to do with income tax.

Anyway, Obama has made his decision- I'm not gonna argue the toss, just seems a bit rough.

[DrivingForce]

^ Daschle is presumably a well paid bloke- the amount of $120k doesn't faze me when other people can have back-tax rulings running into millions. For accepting a car and driver from some fund manager- I'm not pretending to know much about US tax, but the way my accountant would have looked at that is "did accepting that perk tangibly help you earn your income?". If yes, taxable or part taxable, if not nothing to do with income tax.

Anyway, Obama has made his decision- I'm not gonna argue the toss, just seems a bit rough.

I'm always suspicious when politicians that pass tax laws don't fully understand the content or claim not to and then hire a tax accountant who also has ambiguity in his tax knowledge...especially where upper level income earners are concerned... but more so even more perplexed by people who are so willing to accept or believe their rhetoric and explanations once they are caught blatantly cheating..

[sabang]

blatantly cheating

This is the point of law actually- was he knowingly, blatantly cheating, or did he accept bad tax advice or, (more realisically) push the envelope- and get turned down. Intent is a major point in tax matters, and usually hard to prove.

One is potentially a criminal offense, the other maybe a misdeameanour (so can be fined) but usually not even that.