Buh-Bye

Hell, we figger running the City of the Big Shoulders is maybe better suited to his talents. Running the White House ... not so much.

The character Josh Lyman in "The West Wing" is said to be based on Rahm. We'd be so much better off right now if Rahm had based his style in the White House on Josh Lyman.

We blame him for the loss of the public option. Up until recently, we were blaming all the ineptitude of the Obama White House on him, but we're not so sure any more. From the appointment of all those Goldman Sachs budget boys/girls to the Tin Ears in the political operation, seems like the man at the top might bear the blame.

We're reading about Rahm's likely successor, Pete Rouse. A strike against him is that he was Tom Daschle's right hand when Daschle was Majority Leader. Daschle's style was a lot like Obama's, too conciliatory for his own good. In Rouse's favor is that he apparently knows the location of every buried body for the last four decades of Life&Death in Mugstomp-on-the-Potomac. That kind of knowledge can come in handy for a president about to make a move. Rouse became Obama's chief of staff when he was first elected to the Senate. It was apparently Rouse who turned Obama around on his vote on the confirmation of Chief Justice John Roberts. Obama was evidently planning to vote for the confirmation. Rouse warned him that a yes vote would come back to haunt him.

That was some good political advice right there.

Runaway Bride

Sen. Judd Gregg is sorta the Tom Daschle of the Republican Party ... melting down when the heat's on.

They say he's been hammered relentlessly as a traitor by fellow Republicans.

They say he himself sought the office.

"I said yes. That was my mistake," said Gregg. Maybe Rush Limbaugh told him the wedding was off.

We find ourselves agreeing with Kos: Why not appoint an effing Democrat?

Daschle Won't Be Missed

Sen. Tom Daschle spent ten years as the leader of Senate Democrats. We thought he was a mighty ineffective leader. He was repeatedly rolled by his Republican counterpart, and by El Presidente (remember him?). Some time early in this decade I found myself writing a letter to every other Democratic senator, begging them to put someone in as their leader who would STAND UP AND FIGHT.

Daschle's withdrawal yesterday as President Obama's nominee for Health & Human Services secretary is perfectly representative of the man's instincts ... never mind his tax liabilities, which were serious enough.

The upside is that President Obama is taking the blame for the vetting process. When's the last time you heard an American president say, "My fault"?