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Does anyone else feel played by Obama telling Anderson Cooper and just about every news outlet that he "screwed up" on the Daschle situation? George Packer and morning news anchors are framing his mea culpa as a stark contrast to Bush's inability in 2004 to come up with any mistakes he'd made since 9/11. Their point: Isn't it so refreshing to finally have a president who can admit when he's done wrong?
Yes, a willingness to own up to mistakes is a great trait. But what exactly is Obama admitting to having done wrong here? He says the vetting process is not to blame. So what, then? Cooper's push for an explanation came up fairly empty handed:
AC: What was your mistake, letting it get this far? You should have pulled it earlier?
BO: I think my mistake is not in selecting Tom originally because I think nobody was better equipped to deal both with the substance and policy of health care—he understands it as well as anybody—but also the politics that's going to be required to actually get it done. But ultimately, I campaigned on changing Washington and bottom-up politics and I don't want to send a message to the American people that there are two sets of standards, one for powerful people and one for ordinary folks who are working every day and paying their taxes.
I can see how Obama could say he inappropriately created a double standard if he had actually appointed Daschle despite the tax scandal, but he didn't have the chance to do that. So if he was right to select Daschle originally, if the vetting process was solid, and if the appointment wasn't actually carried out, then where exactly was the screw up?