Daschle Out at HHS

While new Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner owed $34,000 in taxes, he had an excuse, if not a good one, in his confusion over his salary arrangements with the World Bank, and it's not like a Treasury Secretary has that much to do with finance anyway. But Tom Daschle, Senate lion and proposed Health and Human Services Secretary owed over $130,000 to the IRS, some of it made on speaking fees from health insurers, which some might see as a conflict of interest. So now he's out, his record as a health care reform advocate notwithstanding. Republican Senator Jim DeMint's earlier call for his withdrawal may have been the signal that this one was a bridge too far, especially after the tax-related withdrawal earlier today of Obama's Chief Performance Officer pick, Nancy Killefer. "I will not be the architect of America's health system reform," said Daschle in his bow-out, "but I remain one of its more fervent supporters."