WHO REALLY SCREWED UP & WHO'S PRAYING FOR A MIRACLE?

You’ve got to respect a man who admits when he’s made a mistake. Not since Jack Kennedy has an American President admitted to making a mistake until Barack Obama made that admission this week when he said, “I screwed up” in regard to the nomination of former Senator Tom Daschle for Secretary of Health and Human Services. But was it the President’s mistake or the mistake of those in charge of vetting potential cabinet members? This same group of people made this mistake not once, not twice, but three times with cabinet nominees who had serious tax problems, including the now approved Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, who’s in charge of the government’s tax-collecting agency, an ironic, if not cynical choice. The President maintains that he does not support one set of rules for the politically elite and another for the average American citizen, but while the two other nominees with tax problems dropped out, Geithner, who was also working on Wall Street when the country went into recession, seems to have dodged the bullet. But back to those responsible for not doing a proper job of vetting these cabinet nominees: didn’t the Democrats raise questions about the Republicans not properly vetting Sarah Palin? Now, what? Will somebody finally realize that the best person to head up Health and Human Services, an obvious choice, is former DNC chair, Dr. Howard Dean? It was Dean who conceived the 50-state strategy and internet blitz that Obama used to win the 2008 election. Sure, Obama refined Dean’s concept and honed it into a well-oiled political machine, but it was Dean’s idea initially. Yet, Dean has been ignored since the election. Word is Dean doesn’t get along with Rahm Emanuel. So? Who cares? They don’t have to be buddies! They don’t have to play golf together, visit each other’s homes, go on golfing dates, or have sleepovers! They need to serve the country and, in my opinion and the opinions of quite a few other folks, Dean has always been the best choice for Secretary of Health and Human Services. Cenk Uygur stated On The Huffington Post “no one can dispute that Howard Dean was right about the 50 state strategy, and this undoubtedly helped Barack Obama and a lot of Democratic congressmen and senators get elected. He's also been exactly right on the policy issues. Shouldn't the Obama administration reward competence?” Posted November 25, 2008 08:15 PM (EST.) “Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, the man regarded by many sharp political operatives as the progenitor of President-elect Barack Obama's successful 2008 campaign, finds himself without an obvious next job as his tenure at the head of the Democratic National Committee comes to an end….And yet, it's hard not see Dean as a lesson in how political hardball is played in Washington. Never liked by establishment party figures -- Dean publicly feuded with incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel when the latter was at the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during the 2006 election cycle -- Dean finds himself on the outside looking in as a new Democratic Administration comes to town….Dean then made a play to be secretary of Health and Human Services in the Obama Administration but was quickly shot down in favor of former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle, a confidante of the president-elect….” The Fix by Chris Cillizza, washingtonpost.com's Politics Blog The Denouement of Howard Dean. The Dean-Emanuel conflict wouldn’t be the only contentious relationship in the cabinet should Dean get the job of Health and Human Services Secretary. However, I think the likelihood of having innovative and feasible ideas for health care would be worth bearing with any squabbles these two may have. However, there is still some resistance to the notion that President Obama "screwed up" by not giving Dean the job in the first place. Evan Thomas from Newsweek said in a recent television interview when asked about the mistakes made in not properly vetting Daschle and other cabinet nominees who turned out to be in arrears with their taxes, “Would Hillary have done any better?” I like to think that having more experience, Senator Clinton would have had the good sense to nominate Dean for Health and Human Services Secretary; but I can’t complain too much because President Obama had the good sense to nominate her! Meanwhile, in other developments, the economic stimulus package seems to have hit a snag after being hijacked in the House by Nancy Pelosi, still tasting victory and flaunting her powers. Nevertheless, the Senate seems poised to approve some version, probably not the best, of the bill that is this nation’s only hope for some economic relief. Do you get the feeling of being on a sinking ship right about now? There is a plane going down on the Potomac. Flocks of birds have taken out both engines - Blue Jays took out the left engine and Redbirds took out the right engine. The pilot who is flying an Airbus 1600 on his first flight out is intent on making it to the nearest airport. Having promised the 303, 824,640 passengers on U.S. Airways Flight 2009, to safely transport them out of a recession, the novice flyer refuses to accept defeat. “We’re having some trouble,” he reports to Air Traffic Control. “Are you going to continue and land at the nearest airport?” an air traffic controller asks. “If we don’t act now, we’re going to go from crisis to castastrophe,” answers the pilot. “But what are you going to do?” asks the controller again. “Look, I found those birds when I showed up. I found them, doubled, and wrapped in a package with a great big bow!” said the pilot. “What?” asked the confused controller. “I guess they were listening to Rush Limbaugh and he told them to take out our engines,” mumbled the pilot. “Flight 2009, can you land at the nearest airport?” The controller’s voice increased in volume as time ran out for the pilot to make a decision. “Yes we can! All we have is hope and the audacity to believe in change, so we’re going for it!” said the pilot as the passengers cheered in the background. The controller was concerned, knowing that the plane was still minutes away from the airport and not sure how long the plane could stay in the air. “Boy, where is Captain Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger when we need him?” mumbled the concerned controller, fondly remembering “the miracle on the Hudson” as he prayed for a miracle on the Potomac.