If anyone were to ask, my wife is the politically-interested person in the household. Specifically, she will tell you when she thinks a politician has been less than “governing for the people” and makes up her mind accordingly.  She also has had some opinions on President Obama, before, during and after the election. Myself, I have held in reserve my opinion on the chance that the President will actually turn around politics as usual in Washington, DC, as he and the Democratic party has so often promised, especially during the long campaign.

Well, it appears it ain’t so. I refer to the latest article from the Washington Post on Thomas A. Daschle, the nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services.

In a nutshell, Mr. Daschle forgot to tell the President that he owed back taxes for a number of years, and then only remembered to tell the President and everyone else, only AFTER he filed his taxes and paid them, a month AFTER he was nominated.

As quoted in the Washington Post,

“In mid-December, Obama’s transition team discovered that $15,000 of the $276,000 in charitable contributions claimed by Daschle and his wife over 3 years lacked proper receipts. But the former Senate majority leader did not mention the larger tax liability until after his accountant had filed amended returns for him.”

“Daschle, one of Obama’s earliest and most ardent campaign supporters, paid $140,000 to the U. S. Treasury on January 2, and about two days later informed the White House and the Senate Finance Committee, according to an account provided by his spokeswoman and confirmed by Obama administration.”

“Meanwhile, the disclosure of Daschle’s lucrative ties to private companies with Washington interests have begun to raise eyebrows among those who expected Obama to be wary of relying on wealthy insiders to stock his administration.”

“”White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said last night (January 31, 2009) that Obama stands behind his friend and confidant. “The President believes nobody’s perfect but that nobody’s hiding anything,” Gibbs said.”"

So, there it is. Mr. Daschle supposedly withheld information from the President, was delinquent on his taxes and apparently knew this, and has paid relationships with various organizations that he is going to be dealing with if he becomes the Secretary of DHHS. Great…this is not the first person that has had dirty laundry aired, but still are getting to go to Washington to “govern” and make policies when there is easily a conflict of interest.

Well, don’t get me wrong - Everyone has some dirty laundry they would prefer not to be shown to the public view, including myself. And I agree that no one is perfect but if I, a trying-hard-to-be-self-employed person, had been delinquent on MY taxes like that, I would have lost my house, paid out the nose for years, and might even had to give up my first-born.

These are supposed to be people who are going into positions where integrity, honesty, hard work and public-service qualities are normally required, especially if you are going to change Washington politics. Not going to happen, and sorry to say, I now have a very critical opinion of the current administration. Congress is already low in my book. Change, Hope? Not now, not yet..

For a Democratic-controlled Congress that allows unlimited terms, is immune to the laws that everyone of us has to follow, votes themselves pay raises when everyone else is losing jobs and homes, here is what I have to say:

Vote for term limitations for a maximum of 3 or 4 terms, vote to apply the laws to Congress as it applies to the rest of the Americans, start working regular hours like everyone else until this mess is fixed, and start working as a Congress, not as Republicans or Democrats.

Perhaps then, and probably only then, America can get back to working, can gain the respect back from the rest of the world, and consumer confidence will grow.

Until then, my confidence in the Congress and the current administration is in the single digits and dropping fast.

Oh, and by the way, Mr. Congress person, I think the general public won’t mind if you actually stay in Washington for the duration to work on these problems….you know, more than a week at a time without taking another vacation or a paid speaking engagement…