Obama picks Tom Daschle for Health and Human Services Secretary. If you stand on a chair, you can see universal health care coming our way.

CNN is reporting that Tom Daschle will not only be Health and Human Services Secretary, but also health reform czar under the Obama administration. This is huge news, and the clearest evidence yet that Obama means to pursue comprehensive health reform. You don't tap the former Senate Majority Leader to run your health care bureaucracy. That's not his skill set. You tap him to get your health care plan through Congress. You tap him because he understands the parliamentary tricks and has a deep knowledge of the ideologies and incentives of the relevant players. You tap him because you understand that health care reform runs through the Senate. And he accepts because he has been assured that you mean to attempt health care reform.

This is absolutely amazing news!

I have always been a fan of Tom Daschle and was very upset when he became a casualty of the Bush administration's slash and burn approach to politics. They vilified Senator Daschle and impugned his name at every turn. Blaming him for undermining their plans by using filibusters to block confirmation of several of Bush's nominees to the federal judiciary. In other words they needed him out to do things like spy on Americans, get rid of habeas corpus, and use torture against enemy combatants. If Daschle had retained his seat you can bet all of that would have been a lot harder to accomplish.

Seeing him reinstated in such a prestigious position in this historic administration is very gratifying. And I know he will do an incredible job.