I was really, truly excited about Tom Daschle as HHS Secretary.  I think he is a fundamentally good person.  Larry Lessig agrees, but says that doesn’t excuse him:

Daschle, of course, is the most innocent in this guilty system. His
plan was to serve the public as long as he possibly could. The voters
in South Dakota terminated that plan. His desire is to return to public
service, working on a set of issues that he feels passionate about.
Indeed, issues he actually knows something about. So no doubt, he is a good soul in a bad system.

But his goodness doesn’t inoculate the system. And the system is why
no one should count on real CHANGE till it, the system, gets changed.