Remember Orwell's Animal Farm?  The pigs had led the farm animals in a revolt against the men.  By the end, the pigs had joined with the men to exploit the animals, who could only look in from the outside in dismay.

When Tom Daschle, supposedly a man of the people, was defeated for reelection, he sold himself to the highest bidders.  $5 million in four years is chicken feed to the big guys, but it got them what they wanted.  Daschle, who has never run anything, is suddenly the best qualified person to run one of the biggest and most complex agencies outside Defense.  His power over the health care industry, which contributed mightily to his wealth build-up, will be enormous.  And we're to believe that there will be no pay-back.

Who assures of us this?  The members of the milliionaires' club, aka the Senate.  I don't find that reassuring.  Remember the Keating five?  When Daniel Inouye was called as a character witness for one of them, what did Mr. Integrity have to say?  That what they did couldn't be wrong because "we all do it."  This is the kind of moral and ethical standard that the rest of that crowd look up to.

Daschle, Geithner, and now Nancy Killefer, the wannabe "Chief Performance Officer," want to run the country and they supposedly can't figure out their taxes.  Until nominated for a prominent job, then it suddenly occurs to them.  The Washington Post, in an editorial today, found it hard to understand how these people could have made such mistakes.  I don't find it hard at all, because I don't believe those were mistakes, but the product of greed.  The Post ended the editorial saying that, even with their problems, the President deserves to have the people he wants in important jobs.  Sadly, the Post doesn't bother to address what the country deserves.