“I screwed up.” - President Barack Obama.
Someone sure screwed up in vetting the appointments of former Sen. Tom Daschle as health and human services secretary and Nancy Killefer for the new post of chief performance officer. Embarrassing tax issues were missed in both instances. And since the buck stops at the top, Obama accepted responsibility for the screw up in a series of interviews Tuesday.
It was a refreshing admission by a chief executive, particularly coming as it did after an eight-year presidency in which the occupant of the Oval Office seemed incapable of stringing those three little words together. And with the Daschle and Killefer nominations withdrawn, Obama’s acknowledgement of his mistake may quiet the controversy over tax gaffes and allow his administration to move forward.
But one troubling fact remains. Someone among Obama’s folks screwed up in vetting Timothy Geithner’s tax situation, too. But he got confirmed as treasury secretary anyway, which makes me wonder if about 60 members of the Senate should step forward and join Obama in saying, “I screwed up” on that one, too.
Larry Dale Keeling, a columnist for the Lexington Herald-Leader, has spent most of his 35-plus years in journalism reporting on or writing editorials and columns about Kentucky’s politics and political issues. He now brings his experience and expertise on those topics to the KyKurmudgeon blog.
That’s OK, Mr. President, the voters screwed up too last November.