What he says happened ...

Administration sources insist this was Daschle's decision alone. That was certainly the line from Robert Gibbs at the podium Tuesday A source close to Daschle says "he didn't have the stomach for the fight." The double-barreled combination of a blistering New York Times editorial and a front-page story raising questions about President Obama's commitment to ethics reform in Washington convinced Daschle he had to go.

Already depressed by the recent discovery that his younger brother is stricken with brain cancer, Daschle wasn't prepared for another week of Senate hazing and damaging headlines.

And, he didn't want to hurt his friend, Barack Obama.

Late Update: On the other hand, this passage, from a little further down in George's piece strikes me as more than a tad overwrought ...

As sad as he and Daschle's network of White House friends are about his withdrawal, they know how much damage this has done to Obama's reputation. The Administration was appearing to set one standard for its allies, and another for the rest of Washington.