THE VIEW FROM BEHIND THE TINTED GLASS

Many years ago, a great deal was made of George Bush (41) marveling at an electronic scanner in a supermarket. The spin was that candidate Bush, apparently not familiar with how an average supermarket functioned, was hopelessly out of touch with the average American.

That story comes back to mind as we consider the current flap over Cabinet nominee Tom Daschle’s failure to pay over $100,000 in taxes for a private car and chauffer he ha been using for the last four years. After leaving the Senate, Daschle apparently took a high paying position with a New York investment firm headed by a long time campaign contributor. Among the perks was a car and driver…a perk that Senator Daschle had apparently also enjoyed at taxpayer expense when he was the Majority Leader. Like Treasury Secretary Geithner before him, Daschle apparently only paid the back taxes after he was nominated to the Obama Cabinet.

To me, more important than the tax issue, is what it says that our Senator and now presumed Secretary of Health and Human Services has been traveling in a cocoon all theses years. Personally, I think there is something to be said for waiting in the rain or snow for your bus or train. It’s a small point, but it’s those kinds of thing that keeps you in touch. It seems to me its tougher to “feel their pain” from the back seat of a chauffer driven Town Car.