As the day slowly comes when Obama will be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States, he will inevitably be going through a rigorous cabinet selection process that precedes any new administration. Very little is known at the moment as to what the exact makeup of the Obama administration will look like. I have heard the names Hillary Clinton and Chuck Hagel tossed around and I anxiously await the final result as far as those are concerned. In the midst of all the uncertainty, we do know for certain who one of the appointees will be (assuming he doesn’t get run over by a truck in the next several weeks.) That is Tom Daschle, whom is now poised to succeed as the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Daschle has previously served as a Senator (D-SD) from 1987 to 2005. He was also Majority Leader early last decade. When he was defeated for reelection back in 2004, I doubted that he would make a return to politics. Today, I am proven wrong. He had supposedly originally been considered for Chief of Staff, but that appointment ultimately went to somebody else.
So, what to make of this? Health Care is a pretty big issue for Daschle these days. He wrote a book about it after leaving the Senate: Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis (after all, what can you do after your political career has halted except write a book.) I have not read this book, but I do know that Daschle is a staunch supporter of a public universal health care system and I assume, for now, that his book makes a case for that. Obama did make health care a big issue during his campaign and this appointment makes a statement where he would intend to lead us. We may very well end up taking a couple steps toward a system like Canada’s, with low efficiency, low innovation and long waiting periods. I do not foresee any change in our policy regarding HMOs, which I see as an obstacle toward true health care reform. Expect Daschle to promote his big government agenda while in office next term.
