Change Marches On.

• Author: Ben Keeler
• Filed under: Obama
• Date: Nov 19,2008

Now joining the Team Obama Washington insiders, lobbyists, Marc Rich pardon enablers, and other Clinton Administration retreads: Tom Daschle!

The former Senate Minority turned Majority turned Minority turned Majority turned Minority Leader then out of a job Daschle will be the next Secretary of Health and Human Services. When he is confirmed by his former friends and enemies in the Senate, Daschle's responsibilities will include the FDA, Medicare and Medicaid programs, and what goes on at the National Institutes of Health (home of my favorite subway stop on the DC Metro). He will repalce Mike Leavitt. Daschle was defeated in his reelection bid in 2004 by John Thune, but he stayed around town and saddled up to Obama early on hoping for a position like this. Gamble paid off. He gets a dream job of heading a huge bureaucracy and telling people how to live their lives by being smarter than them and making decisions for them.

The Washington Post adds: More significantly, Daschle has positioned himself as Obama's central adviser on efforts to dramatically expand health-care coverage next year, while at the same time lowering costs. During the campaign, Obama promised to reduce the average family's medical bill by $2,500.

Yes, Tom Daschle will be one of the leaders in the push to force universal health care down our throats; another huge entitlement we don't need. How laughable will that $2,500 figure look? I wonder how many Republicans (admittedly not a lot of them left) remember how impossible Daschle was to work with when he led the Senate Democrats during the first Bush term. He made Harry Reid look like a true bipartisan figure. They should be eager to work with him.

First up: Ted Kennedy's leagcy bill.

Will anyone that is actually a change of any sort be chosen to be in the Obama Cabinet? Stay tuned.