BREAKING NEWS: Tom Daschle to be both Health Czar and Health and Human Services Secretary

By Michael J.W. Stickings

CNN:

President-elect Barack Obama has chosen former Sen. Tom Daschle to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the former Senate majority leader has indicated he wants the job, three sources close to the transition told CNN Wednesday.

The sources said that Daschle negotiated that he will also serve as the White House health "czar," or point person, so that he will report directly to the incoming president.

By wearing two hats, Daschle -- not White House staffers -- will be writing the health care plan that Obama submits to Congress next year.

It's not official yet -- no comment from the Obama team, and of course Daschle would still need to be confirmed -- but, if true, it's an excellent pick.

Daschle was hugely instrumental in Obama's election win, providing not just his support from early on but also many of his former staffers. And he also has the political savvy and experience to lead the policy development and implementation process and to guide the legislation through Congress once the time comes.

As is so often the case with all things health-care-related, I turn to TNR's Jonathan Cohn: "This is a perfect role for Daschle. Although he was always been interested in health care, in the last few years he's become a true wonk on the subject, publishing a book called Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis. It urges precisely the sorts of reforms President-Elect Obama and his congressional allies are promoting right now."

For those of us who think health care should be one of Obama's key priorities going forward, this is a promising move, to say the least.

**********

UPDATE: Ezra Klein is also pleased: "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.