The Obama team has officially made a mistake.
This mistake apparently happened during the transition period before Barack Obama became president. How three high-level nominees were able to get past the transition’s vetting process without anyone realizing they had tax problems is beyond this board.
On Tuesday, two of Obama’s nominees withdrew their nominations from consideration. Tom Daschle, the former Senate majority leader and Obama’s former nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, withdrew his nomination as a result of a failure to pay taxes on a car and driver. Meanwhile, Obama’s choice for White House chief performance officer, Nancy Killefer, withdrew herself from consideration due to tax problems as well. These revelations come after now-Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner revealed he had failed to pay taxes on an undocumented worker.
During the campaign season, and even during the transition period following the election, Obama promised Americans an ethical administration that included officials free from the taint of unethical wrongdoing. However, the Obama team was either unable to find the tax problems of his nominees or to realize they would be an issue during the confirmation process.
Rather than finding nominees that would be confirmed by the Senate easily, the Obama team should have focused on making sure its nominees were clear of any wrongdoing. That would have been a promise kept, not a promise broken.