Yesterday Tom Daschle withdrew his name from nomination to become President Obama’s next Secretary of Health and Human Services.  The former senate majority leader bowed out after it was reported that he failed to pay taxes on a car and driver gifted to him by a friend.  Daschle said in his withdrawal that he did not want to be a distraction to the President’s overall mission of accomplishing the Administration”s agenda.  So…..now we have an opening that appears to be a perfect fit for a certain physician, former governor of Vermont, and DNC chairman.  Dr. Howard Dean seems to be the next logical choice for the position.  So why is the administration hesitant about putting Dean’s name out there as a potential candidate?  Rumor has it that there is some bad blood/personality conflict between Rahm Emmanuel and Dean.  Not to mention the fact that Dean is not known for playing nice with senators, senators he will need to help pass a comprehensive health care reform bill.  During the campaign Dean may have stepped on a few senate toes, the owners of which may still hold grudges.  However, Dean can tout a few very significant accomplishments in the health care arena. He chaired the National Governor’s Association Health Care Task Force in the 90s. He was also the architect of the health care system in Vermont which has been hailed as the best top to bottom health care system of any of the fifty states (Vermont ranked 16th in overall health in 1990 and today is ranked 1st).  Heathcare was the primary focus of his 2004 presidential campaign.  If he can work on the alleged my-way-or-the-highway aspect of his personality he could probably do a good job.  Getting a comprehensive health care reform bill passed requires a certain amount of schmoozing and negotiating with special interest, corporate america, insurance companies, and the Senate (both sides of the isle).  Thus, a rigid partisan stance/approach steeped in an abyss of ideology makes for a counterproductive endeavor. 

The Senate confirmed Eric Holder yesterday in a vote of 75-21 as the first African-American to hold the nation’s top cop position.  Though not before a few of republican senators, Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Senator John Cornyn of Texas, and Senator Jim Banning of Kentucky voiced their opposition to the Holder confirmation. The reasons they opposed?  Well, the jist of their opposition was Holder’s alleged lack of independence and judgment stemming from a controversial pardon by former president Bill Clinton…..huh.  Yet all three of the same GOP Senators voted to confirm Alberto Gonzales who freely admitted that as Attorney General he wears two hats, one as President Bush’ s attorney and the other as the attorney for the people of the United States.  Uhhh…apparently he forgot about his obligation to the people.  As for President Bill Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich  which seemed to be the GOP senators main objection to confirming Holder, where was the outrage when President Bush commutated the sentence of Scooter Libby?  The hypocrisy is overwhelming.  Second, Eric Holder did not pardon Marc Rich, President Clinton did.  As deputy Attorney General or Attorney General for that matter, Holder had no final decision making power with respect to any grant of clemency or pardons.   Further, disagreement over a couple of Holder’s decisions out of the hundreds made by him during his prior post at the Justice department is not a valid reason to vote against an otherwise uniquely and very qualified candidate.   All in all, Mr. Holder was confirmed and under his leadership credibility will be restored to the Justice department.  Mr. Holder’s oath will be administered by Vice President Joe Biden this morning at the Justice department.  Yes folks…..that is CHANGE I can definitely believe in.