How do you feel about the President admitting he was wrong in his handling of the Daschle appointment?

After Bush, I think it only helps him. It makes him seem like he can man up to a mistake, is willing to listen to other people’s input and to correct his mistakes. All good if he’s going to try cleaning up Bush’s mess.

It only adds to the respect I feel for someone if they can admit their mistakes, and learn from them.

@amanderveen Great answer.
All people make mistakes. It’s great when someone can admit to one and work to avoid future mistakes.

I’m glad he took responsibility and now he’s fixing it.

It’s nice to see a politician (and a president in this case) who has integrity and will own up to mistakes that they have made. I believe that public opinion will be positive on this note especially after 8 years of mistrust and ill will toward Bush and his failed administration.

Refreshing.

Definitely a turn in the right direction. We don’t need more of the still prevalent “Rule Number 1, never admit to being wrong, other’s do it for you”

Gallup via USA Today says:

“A USA Today/Gallup opinion poll yesterday showed Mr Obama still holding a high approval rating of 66 per cent, while his measures to tighten ethics rules in government were rated even higher at 76 per cent.”

It strikes me as going a ittle overboard. He is projecting “The buck stops here” but we all know he is not personally vetting these people. It makes you wonder if the person clearing these people is incompetent or if the candidates are just lying. If there are many more tax cheats put up for senior administrative position, the Limbaughtics will start questioning the ethics of the entire party and Obama’s judgment.

On the other hand, I think I heard that a woman with ‘performance’ in the title of nominated position had to pay $1000. That amount could very easily be a simple mistake. The 1st time I had enough cash to open an IRA I did so. In June of that year I got a notice that because of my kind of pension I owed the tax on that $3500. I went back and couldn’t understand why but I went ahead and paid it and switched to another kind of tax deferred retirement instrument. Would that misunderstanding make me ineligible for a govt job?

President Obama is so real. I am very happy that he just cleared the air by admitting it. That is in fact smart politically to just clear the air by saying “I was wrong” though most politicians would rather not, and let the media keep pointing it out.

Admirable.

Just as long as he never makes another mistake, I’m fine. Just kidding!

It takes a big man to admit when he’s wrong.

Every day I continue to be more impressed by his actions and demeanor. Such as the way he sits, the fact that he doesn’t adhere to a strict dress code, and the work he’s already done. I find myself going to whitehouse.gov every few days to keep up with what he’s doing, and I watch the Saturday video he makes too. And I’m Canadian. It doesn’t directly affect me at all. But I’m still very interested. I really hope he bashes down the California drug raids, then does the smart thing and legalizes cannabis, the momentum for this is really getting on fire these past few days especially with the Phelps thing. I’ve also seen a lot of NORML posters around town, and groups have formed to bring banners to Obama’s visit with kind messages of pot law abolishing.

I’m looking forward to him coming to Ottawa on the 19th – it’s his first official trip abroad! I’m thinking about heading down to Parliament and seeing him in person. Amazingly enough, the striking bus union in the city was forced to go to arbitration with the city, magically in time for buses to be running when he arrives.

I keep wondering, though, if he really did make a mistake. Did they know that Daschle had a tax problem? Does a tax problem preclude you from public service, even at the highest levels? Is it necessarily favoritism?

I don’t know the answers to these questions, but it disturbs me that there is a rush to judgement. Symbolism of anti-corruption that destroys people whose crimes are not very bad is as bad as destruction of careers because people don’t have the right politics.

I think it is a bit overhyped too. Daschle was one of his mentors for quite a while, and Daschle himself is by far not the worst guy around.

I’m not in the habit of starting to run backgroundchecks on people I’ve known years over years.

On top of it, Daschle did not withhold income, but had car and driver by a privately owned company. I can see how a tax preparer could oversee that as well. Not that I’m defending it at all, just saying, how could the President have known?

I think the bigger issue isn’t the tax problem, but the lobbyist problem. Dashle wasn’t a lobbyist, but since he left the Senate, he made $5 million working as a consultant for the lobbying arm of a company, and of that $5m, $200k was from drug companies. I think if Obama really wants to enforce his no lobbyist policy, THAT would have been a far bigger issue than the taxes, and I think that is the mistake Obama made, and though he cushioned his mea culpa by not being too specific on what mistake he actually MADE, I think he handled it honestly but still in a politically savvy way. And yes, I far prefer that to a President who when asked what mistakes he’s made says he wished he’d gotten the question in advance because he can’t think of any off the top of his head, when clearly there were some obvious choices that any American could have pointed out right then and there.

It’s easy to have a blind spot when thinking about the good points of your hero/mentor. The fact that he admitted to having that spot is awesome – Bush would never have done that! I’m hoping he learns from it, though. He seems like the kind of guy that would.