The news media and the American people are swooning over President Obama’s  “I think I messed up. I screwed up,” confession over Tom — cheating-on-his-taxes — Daschle’s nomination to head the Health and Human Services Department.

Said the President: "I take responsibility for it and we're going to make sure we fix it so it doesn't happen again."

Normally, apologies, if they are sincere, are good and important parts of human interaction. But the lexicon used in President Obama’s apology is not something one would expect of a President of the United States or any head of state — instead it must be some of that new "change" we are to expect.

It is more troubling, however, that the President has been nominating people for his cabinet who seem to have trouble properly reporting and paying their taxes.

That aside, there is something more revealing about the perceived state of the American culture that is revealed by the way in which President Obama phrased his apology. The pedestrian language used, instead of the more dignified languange one might expect from the office of the president, was intended to be disarming. It was most likely calculated to be seen, and more importantly, felt by the American people as a indication of strong leadership. As such, it suggests that the White House believes that American society is ruled by emotion rather than logic. They may be right about that, but in such a circumstance it would be most helpful to have the nation's head of state set a salutary example rather than succumb to the political calculus that dictates an appeal to base emotion.

In any case, it is the appointment of individuals with tax-dodging histories that is, again, of primary concern.

"Ultimately, I campaigned on changing Washington and bottom-up politics," Obama said. "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."

The president attempts to come out smelling like a rose by making an example of just one of the tax-plagued nominees. The new treasury secretary, Tim — failure-to-report-and-pay-taxes-worst-of-the-bunch — Geithner has done the same thing, and he’s still holding to his cabinet post and will oversee the IRS.

Again, more political calculus and crass triangulation. In the time-honored tradition of arraying oneself against the moral backdrop of president's past (and against one in particular)next President Obama trots out Abraham Lincoln, a sure bet to silence any detractors. "You know, when I think about Abraham Lincoln, what I'm struck by is the fact that he constantly learned on the job. He got better. You know, he wasn't defensive. He wasn't arrogant about his tasks. He was very systematic in saying, 'I'm going to master the job, and I understand it's going to take some time.' "

What a snow job! President Obama’s attempts at humility are simply not credible, because he does indeed adhere to the two-standard policy that government elitists cling to.

Particularly amusing is Eric Cantor’s (R-Virginia) comment that it’s no wonder the Democrats always push for more taxes, “because, you know what--they don’t pay them.”

Everyone loves an apologist, don’t they? There seems to be nothing the American people can’t forgive as long as it’s accompanied by what they believe is a heartfelt apology — one that’s jammed down their throats by a very accommodating media.

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lin said:

... "...we're going to make sure we fix it so it doesn't happen again." (same old spin only in 'pedestrian' lingo) It's merely a new 'pedestrian' marketing strategy to further impose new regulations that would do more damage to individual tax-payers and businesses, than to ever correct anything remotely connected to 'Washington from the bottom-up politics.' Seems like he's in the learning stages of demogogic manipulation speech, that will become more powerful over time.

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February 06, 2009
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