My sources tell me President Obama had a heads-up on Tom Daschle's tax problems nine days before they came out in the press. I'm also told that Daschle offered to step aside as Obama's health and human services secretary nominee before the story got out, but that Obama, who thinks of Daschle as some kind of father figure, said "no." If that's how it happened, then the new president wins the Rookie of the Week award, hands down. He should have accepted Daschle's offer then and there. Obama was being loyal. But in this business, sooner or later you learn...