Sam Donaldson on Obama's 'Uniquely Qualified' Team

Jan. 15, 2009 — -- The following is a commentary by ABC News' Sam Donaldson. Click here to view a video version of his latest essay.

President-elect Barack Obama and many members of the Senate on both sides of the aisle say Obama cabinet pick Timothy Geithner is "uniquely qualified" to be secretary of the Treasury, so his "honest mistake" in not paying some of his taxes must not stand in the way of his Senate confirmation.

Excuse me, perhaps it shouldn't … but there are a couple of things here that are, as the saying goes, "food for thought."

First, let's be clear what that "honest mistake" was.

Geithner worked for the International Monetary Fund for four years. The fund does not withhold certain employees' social security and medicare taxes, nor does the fund pay its share of such taxes to the U.S. government. Instead, it pays its share directly to the employee and each year, Geithner was, as were others, presented a form to sign acknowledging that he got the money and was responsible for paying the taxes. Geithner signed but he didn't pay the taxes … until in 2006, when the IRS conducted a routine audit of his tax returns for the last two years that he worked at the IMF and discovered the error. Then Geithner paid up for those last two years. He now understood, did he not, that he had made a mistake?

So, did he voluntarily go back to the first two years that the IRS had not audited and file amended returns and pay up for those two years?

No, not a bit of it. It was the Obama transition team that discovered he hadn't done this, at which point Geithner paid up once again.

The president-elect says the bottom line is that we knew about all this but it was an "honest mistake" and besides he is "uniquely qualified" to fill this very important post.

Which got me to thinking …

Gov. Richardson was "uniquely qualified" to be commerce secretary when he was publicly picked for that post… and the "pay for play" investigation in New Mexico which finally caused him to withdraw was also known by the Obama team at the time he was picked.

Donaldson: 'Food for Thought'

Eric Holder, who is answering questions about his support for former President Bill Clinton's last-minute pardons of Puerto Rican terrorists and a fugitive from justice is also said to be "uniquely qualified."

Well, no one's perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. I've made my share. But, the idea that any one person is the only one "uniquely qualified" to do anything and that that is an overriding qualification that trumps the rest is an idea hard to argue, Abraham Lincoln and a few other historical figures not withstanding. After all, the president-elect has also selected Tom Vilsack, Eric Shinseki, Tom Daschle, Janet Napolitano, Robert Gates and others about whom no "problems" or "honest mistakes" have been raised.

As I say, "food for thought" about the people so described and about those who so describe them.

Sam Donaldson, a 41-year ABC News veteran, served two appointments as chief White House correspondent for ABC News, from 1977-1989 and from January 1998 to August 1999, covering Presidents Carter, Reagan and Clinton. Donaldson also co-anchored, with Diane Sawyer, "PrimeTime Live," from August 1989 until it merged with "20/20" in 1999. He co-anchored the ABC News Sunday morning broadcast, "This Week With Sam Donaldson & Cokie Roberts," from December 1996 to September 2002. Currently, Donaldson appears on ABC News Now, the ABC News digital network, in a daily show called "Politics Live."