Principles

President Obama says [Commerce Secretary nominee Judd] Gregg withdrawal was "somewhat of a surprise."

I'm sure it was. Gregg stood down because of principle. Obama thus far had only lost his nominees - Tom Daschele, Bill Richardson, and Nancy Killefer - because of a lack of principled behavior. I understand that can be confusing.

Obama took blame for the Daschele thing, saying he "screwed up." I thought he was too hard on himself over that. Daschele screwed up. Obama just had the unfortunate situation of living with the consequences.

But with the Gregg thing, Obama really did screw up. He pulls out a Republican Senator in a Dem-led state but fails to get a Democrat put up as a replacement. He picks a guy who looks like a hypocrite because he once tried to shut down the Commerce department and now was tapped to lead it - even, reportedly, campaigned for the role. And in the boldest political power play, he plucks the Census out from under the Commerce Secretary's purview, taking away what would have been arguably be the most important role of the new Commerce head.

If Obama and his team want to admit to screwing something up, it should be the process they have gone through during the Gregg nomination. Kudos to Judd Gregg, though, for standing on principle.