Despite questions about unpaid taxes and possible conflicts of interest, many observers thought Tom Daschle would be confirmed by his former Senate colleagues as President Barack Obama’s secretary of Health and Human Services.

Daschle’s announcement Tuesday that he was withdrawing his nomination for the post had to be a blow to Obama, who had said just a day earlier that he “absolutely” stood by Daschle. It also came on the same day that another nominee, Nancy Killefer, withdrew as the nominee to be the federal government’s first chief performance officer, at least in part because of problems with unpaid payroll taxes for her household help. In both cases, the nominees expressed a desire not be a “distraction” to the Obama administration.

For Americans hungry for “change you can believe in,” some of the news coming out of confirmation hearings for presidential Cabinet nominees has sounded too much like the “business as usual” approach Obama promised to sweep out of Washington.

First came Timothy Geithner, Obama’s nominee as secretary of the Treasury, no less. Having served as an executive for the International Monetary Fund for two years and then as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Geithner would be expected to pay special attention to his own financial affairs. Nonetheless, he paid about $40,000 in federal self-employment taxes to clear his ledger before he was confirmed for the Treasury job.

Then came Daschle, who claimed to have been unaware he was required to report as income a car service provided to him by a private equity firm for which he consulted after leaving the Senate. Accounting for that oversight and adjustments for undocumented charitable contributions and some other matters, Daschle’s bill for back taxes came to about $140,000.

Not only did the problem raise ethical issues but also the check Daschle had to write to keep his HHS nomination alive was more than most American households earn in a year. Why shouldn’t Americans think Daschle is another Washington fat cat doing business as usual? That perception was heightened by the fact Daschle used his political connections since leaving the Senate to earn millions of dollars for speeches and consulting fees for lobbying firms representing health care interests.

It’s certainly fair to question the vetting process for Obama’s nominees. Having based so much of his campaign on a pledge to change the way Washington does business, why would the president choose nominees vulnerable to criticism for tax problems or conflicts of interest?

In the end, Daschle correctly concluded that he would be unable to serve “with the full faith of Congress and the American people.” It’s too bad the Obama administration didn’t reach that conclusion before putting Daschle’s name before the Senate.