The other day I wrote that, if we were inaugurating President Clinton, we could be sure that there'd be more sniping and bickering. Well:
The Senate approved seven of President Obama's Cabinet-level appointees yesterday but delayed a planned vote on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's confirmation to be secretary of state because of objections from a Republican member.
The delay, the result of a demand from Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) for more financial information about former president Bill Clinton's charitable foundation, presented Obama with his first congressional roadblock just hours after he was sworn into office.
Yes, it's true that Clinton will be passed today, and I'm not by any means endorsing Cornyn's move here. But let's face it, there is no question at all that at some point over the next four years, there will be some kind of controversy around this question. It may be real, or (more likely in my view) it may be one of those Clinton "controversies" like those phony things the right wing stoked throughout the 90s. But it will happen, and it will be an interesting test of whether Obama's super-cool, let's-all-just-be-mature-adults-here-for-a-minute demeanor will prevail.
Meanwhile, how about this sentence from the Wash Post (in the same piece):
But another high-profile Obama pick, former Senate majority leader Thomas A. Daschle, will not become health and human services secretary in the short term, as members of the Finance Committee are taking longer than expected to review his tax records, according to a senior committee official.
This might not necessarily be a signal of big trouble abrew. But Daschle's wife was for many years a high-powered and well-remunerated airline industry lobbyist. Could be the two are related.
Maybe it's nothing. But if something hobbled Daschle's nomination, that would be a serious blow to healthcare reform. Worth keeping an eye on.
