Obama: 'I screwed up' in Daschle withdrawal

Heeding The New York Times
Daschle told NBC News that a chiding New York Times editorial played a role in his decision to exit.

In an emotional phone call with NBC's Andrea Mitchell, Daschle said he had phoned Obama on Tuesday morning after reading the New York Times editorial calling on him to withdraw.

The editorial described Daschle's ability to move "cozily between government and industry" as a cloud over any role he might play in changing the nation's medical insurance system.

"I read the New York Times," Daschle told Mitchell, adding: "I can't pass health care if it's too much of a distraction ... so I called the president this morning."

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the choice to step aside was Daschle's alone and the former senator "did not get a signal" from the White House to do so. Daschle and Obama spoke Tuesday, and the president was surprised at the news, said White House senior adviser David Axelrod.

Surprised Democrats
Democratic lawmakers were surprised, too — and disappointed. Axelrod rushed to Capitol Hill to soothe frayed nerves.

Video   Daschle 'emotional' Feb. 3: NBC's Andrea Mitchell recounts her conversation with an emotional Tom Daschle, in which he talked about how a New York Times editorial affected his decision to withdraw. MSNBC

"I was a little stunned. I thought he was going to get confirmed," said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, the panel that would have voted on Daschle's nomination. "It's regrettable."

Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Daschle's former Democratic colleagues had leapt to the former Democratic leader's defense. And it seemed that the clubby way that senators treat one of their own was likely to help Daschle survive the controversy.

But particularly after the divisive Geithner debate and vote, it apparently became too bitter a pill. Tax issues are easy for the public to understand, and also particularly easy to resent in wealthy officials at a time of widespread economic crisis.

They also created an opening for a drumbeat of criticism from Republicans and on newspaper editorial pages that Obama was engaging in a double standard: proclaiming his administration to be more ethical, responsible and special interest-free than his predecessors' and yet carving out exceptions almost daily.

GOP Sen. John Ensign of Nevada said Daschle was going to be faced with tough questions from committee members, among them how the wealth he amassed from a lobbying firm — while not technically registered as a lobbyist — "passes the smell test."

"I think he saved the president from being embarrassed next week in a public hearing," Ensign said.

Loss for Obama's agenda
But even while Obama aimed to stave off potentially crippling problems in one corner with the withdrawals, he created some new ones.

Obama has promised that moving toward universal health care coverage is one of the pillars of first 100 days agenda — a heavy lift that many believed Daschle, with his long experience in Washington, was uniquely qualified for. Daschle was going to wear two hats for Obama, as White House health czar on top of the post leading the Health and Human Services Department.

"We're going to do health care reform," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said flatly after the nomination withdrawal. But others reacted differently.

"It really sets us back a step," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. "Because he was such a talent. I mean he understood Congress, serving in the House and Senate he certainly had the confidence of the president."

Among those considered for the post before it went to Daschle was Howard Dean, the physician-turned-politician who ran for president in 2004 and recently left as head of the Democratic National Committee. Other possible replacements include Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, and Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland.

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