Two weeks in office and he is already showing poor leadership.

Obama's cabinet nomination crisis

By James Coomarasamy
BBC News, Washington

It was beginning to look rather awkward for President Obama.

To have one high profile nominee -
Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner - reveal a tax problem was bad enough.

But when it emerged last Friday that his Health and Human Services
Secretary-designate, Tom Daschle, had failed to pay around $130,000
(£90,000) in taxes on a car and chauffeur he had been provided by a
business associate, a pattern of careless vetting seemed to be emerging.

And Tom Daschle was not just any nominee.

The popular former Senate Majority Leader was, in many ways, Barack
Obama's Washington mentor.

Inside knowledge

It was Mr Daschle who persuaded the young man (who began his US Senate
career just as Mr Daschle was ending his) not to delay his run for the
White House.

And it was Mr Daschle who provided him with key inside knowledge and key
members of staff - especially in the early caucus state of Iowa - to
help him get there.

This closeness explains, perhaps, why the initial reaction of the
President and Senate Democrats was to stand by their man.

On Monday, President Obama said he "absolutely" backed Mr Daschle.

The significance of Tuesday's decision may recede with time, but it was
undoubtedly Barack Obama's worst day in office

The assumption was that - in the same way as Treasury Secretary Geithner
- there would be an enquiry, an apology, but that the nomination would
eventually be approved by the Senate.

It certainly looked that way after a chastened-looking Mr Daschle
emerged on Monday evening from a meeting with his former Senate
colleagues, who then queued up to play down his transgression and
pronounce him the best man for the job.

But something changed overnight.

Just two weeks into the Obama presidency, a perception was beginning to
form of a growing contradiction between the President's high-minded
rhetoric on ethics and lobbying and the reality of his choices.

Having promised a new era of responsibility and trumpeted tough, new
lobbying restrictions for his administration, exceptions were beginning
to be the rule.

Aside from Timothy Geithner, there was an ethics waiver for William
Lynn, the former lobbyist he had chosen to be Deputy Secretary of Defence.

And, as the media began to dig into Tom Daschle's own business dealings,
an image was forming of someone who, while not a registered lobbyist,
had inhabited a very lucrative grey area since leaving Congress.

Final straw

The context was very different, but - in terms of perception, at least -
there was an uncomfortable parallel between Wall Street bosses awarding
huge bonuses - something dismissed by the President as "shameful" - and
his own former political club of Senators closing ranks around one of
their own; a man who had made millions of dollars, thanks to his
political contacts.

It was starting to look not just careless, but hypocritical.

In an editorial calling for Mr Daschle to withdraw his candidacy, the
New York Times referred to him as one of a long line of politicians who
move "cosily between government and industry".

A president who had promised to bring change to Washington appeared to
be endorsing what he repeatedly called on the campaign trail "business
as usual".

And then came Nancy Killefer.

Her surprise withdrawal from consideration for the post of the
government's Chief Performance Officer, because of her own tax
transgressions, may have been the final straw; for the White House or Mr
Daschle, it is not yet clear.

Whatever the case, just a few hours later, Tom Daschle surprised friends
and foes alike by stepping down, even though only one Senator -
Republican Jim DeMint - had publicly urged him to do so.

Mr Obama said he had accepted the decision with "sadness and regret".

And whatever relief there may be in the White House that a scandal has
been nipped in the bud, Tom Daschle's loss is a big blow to the
President, both personally and politically.

It is also a blow to advocates of health care reform - Mr Daschle's
replacement is unlikely to have the same level of access to the Oval
Office as he would have done.

The significance of Tuesday's decision may recede with time, but it was
undoubtedly Barack Obama's worst day in office.

One that looks like the end of an initial honeymoon period for a
President who has raised expectations to a level that is already proving
hard to meet.