Obama repeats 'mistakes' made in nominees

ELKHART, Ind., Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Questions about the appearance of two ethical standards in his presidency are legitimate, President Barack Obama told a questioner in Elkhart, Ind., Monday.

"I think that this is a legitimate criticism that people have made, because you can't expect one set of folks to not pay their taxes when everybody else is paying theirs. So I think that's a legitimate concern," Obama said during a town hall meeting. "I will tell you that the individuals at issue here, I know them personally and I think these were honest mistakes, and I made sure they were honest mistakes beforehand."

Former U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle withdrew from consideration as secretary of health and human services Tuesday and Nancy Killefer pulled her name from consideration to be the first U.S. chief performance officer because of tax issues.

Obama told a booing crowd the woman -- characterizing herself as someone "who thinks you need to have a beer with (conservative commentator) Sean Hannity" -- had a right to say, "You've come to our county and asked us to trust you but those that you have appointed to your Cabinet are not trustworthy and can't handle their own budget and taxes."

Obama repeated his acknowledgment "I made a mistake" in the two appointments because "I don't want to send the signal that there are two sets of rules. "

He said his administration established "an unprecedented set of ethics rules" so people who in his administration "aren't going to be able to go out the revolving door and start working for some lobbying firm and lobbying the White House."