I read an article in one of my favorite sites,Judicial Watch that was very critical of Obamas's pick of Daschle for Head of the Health and Human Services. The letter by Tom finton outlines how Obama has broken his campaign promise....
..."At issue is Mr. Daschle's work since leaving the Senate four years ago as a board member of the Mayo Clinic and a highly paid adviser to health care clients at the law and lobbying firm Alston & Bird.
In a detailed list of campaign promises, Mr. Obama pledged that "no political appointees in an Obama administration will be permitted to work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years."
And then there is his wife...
..."Of course, in addition to Daschle's personal conflicts of interest, there is also the matter of his wife, Linda Daschle, who has been a lobbyist for many years."SOURCE
This is concerning and worth watching..especially for health care advocates and reformers.
On the flip side, David Kirby a respected author made some important points in his article on the Huffington Post concerning daschle and his record.
"By nominating Tom Daschle to head up the Department, President Elect Obama has selected a man who has demonstrated an unflinching willingness to question vaccine safety, and to fight for the rights of those people who believe they have been, or may be, seriously injured by certain vaccinations."
Daschle and Lieberman fought Dick Armey when he slipped a rider into the Homeland security bill at the last minute that protected drug companies and severely limited the rights of citizens injured.
Kirby also says
..."The military has reported that up to 2% of all military service members may have received debilitating injuries from vaccines they were given. That could mean upwards of 48,000 men and women, some of them likely wounded by the same anthrax vaccine that Senator Daschle was trying to kill.
Again, I am sure that Senator Daschle is not anti-vaccine, and I have no idea what his views are on the vaccine-autism debate today.
But I do know that, six years ago, he said that "mercury-based vaccine preservatives actually have caused autism in children." And I know that he tried to stop production of a vaccine that he felt was hurting far too many people.
Senator Baucus from Montana has already unveiled a plan on health care reform. The key issues are expanded medicaid and medicare, and requiring employers to pay for benefits.
This is gonna be ugly! We will see what it means for Monatnans
