President Obama picked on Wall Street bankers and harshly criticized them for spending more than $18.4 billion to pay bonuses to financial executives last year.

Obama described their actions as “the high of irresponsibility” and urged the Wall Street bankers to show some restraint, discipline and responsibility.

But to his displeasing surprise, the President found out the following day that not only the bankers have been acting irresponsible. His health and human services secretary-designate, Tom Daschle, had failed to pay approximately $140,000 in taxes. Obama was left speechless by Daschle’s tax lapses, most of them on a car and driver provided to him by a private equity firm

However, the former Senate majority leader was not. Mr. Daschle, who has received more than $2 million in consulting fees from the firm, began the day apologizing and explaining:

"I deeply apologize to President Obama, to my colleagues and the American people," he said and urged that his mistake should be viewed in the context of the 30 years he served in public service. Mr. Daschle also exaggerated the value of a charitable donation which led to an inappropriate deduction.

The taxes owed from 2005 through 2007 were paid and Mr. Daschle hopes his confirmation as secretary of Health and Human Services won’t be affected. Daschle met with the Senate Finance Committee members in a meeting to which the press did not have access. Several former democratic colleagues defended Mr. Daschle in that meeting, but lawmakers vowed that Daschle will be asked more questions.

The questions will focus mainly on the tax problems, such as the $128,203 in back taxes and $11,964 in interest that Mr. Daschle paid last month, said an aide to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, The Associated Press reported. Other questions may focus on a potential conflict of interest. The confirmation of Daschle as secretary of the Health and Human Services Department is scheduled for February 10.

"Nobody's perfect," said press secretary Robert Gibbs. "It was a serious mistake."

Most Democrats are now rallying around Daschle attempting to downplay the mistake due to the fact that he is allegedly a key player in President Obama’s administration.

The case of Timothy F. Geithner is quite similar. Despite his tax-paying lapses, he was confirmed as Treasury secretary last month. He too is considered to play an essential role in the Obama administration as he is expected to reassure Wall Street, where he headed the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. As far as Daschle is concerned, he is also considered an important figure and very suited to steer the president's healthcare proposal through Congress.

President Obama said that he "absolutely" stands behind Daschle. The cost of this decision to his political capital is considerable, but fortunately he has a great amount of it.