The Yellow Brick Road Leading to D.C.

The man behind the curtain has shamefacedly returned the cookies he filched from the forbidden cookie jar after admitting he had taken them accidentally.

Former Senator Tom Daschle pulls many puppet strings, and undoubtedly will continue to do so, even if he must remain behind the curtain.

But for now, Senator Daschle and Nancy Killefer, the scofflaws chosen by our new president for cabinet and senior advisor positions, have followed Governor Richardson's example, and not only owned up to their wrongdoing (failing to pay a substantial amount on federal taxes), but also stepped aside to permit someone law-abiding to be among those who will help lead our nation in President Obama's changeably-hopeful, highly ethical, transparent administration. Let's "hope" those next up at bat are indeed more ethical and law-abiding, and not simply more accomplished at covering up their misdeeds.

Do we see the continuation of a pattern here? The pattern has existed since well before the fiascoes during the campaign involving Rev. Wright and other mentors of the candidate. But, did our young president learn nothing from those choices that threatened to de-rail his campaign on more than one occasion? I think we are left little choice but to come one simple conclusion: the young president's judgement remains suspect.

In his interview today with Katie Couric, when speaking of Daschle's withdrawal from consideration, the young president was most abashed, claiming the failure to vet the Senator adequately as his alone. And he apologized to the nation. So, I suppose we must also conclude that our new young president will adhere to the doctrine that it is easier to seek forgiveness than permission. That's a frightening prospect.