The Dream and the Reality:

Peter Baker addresses the disappointments and the sneers from left and right, in today's New York Times, as Obama falls short of the lofty goals many allowed themselves to believed were possible to achieve in Washington within the first couple of weeks of the new administration. No more crooks in government, we thought we were promised. But it turns out that you can't quite get anything done without them.

One of the fascinating things about this process has been just how many of these folks have tax problems. National Public Radio just announced a third nominee, who has subsequently dropped out, has been found to have such issues. It's likely that these folks pay someone to do their taxes for them. What does this say about the whole process?