Tom Daschle heads to Congress today to lay out his health-care plan and he’s reportedly bringing one simple message: Anything but Hillary.

Now, that may cause some tension at Cabinet meetings …

Fifteen years ago, when she was First Lady, Hillary Clinton tried with all her might to reform health care. Those efforts, however, turned out to fail miserably and became a blemish on her public service reputation, a fact wasn’t lost on Daschle, President-elect Obama’s pick for Health and Human Services secretary. In fact, in his 2008 book, Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis, Daschle specifically criticized Clinton’s work. The project was such a failure, that Congress hasn’t tried anything so grandiose since. Daschle’s not undaunted by the past, however, and Politico reports he wants an overhaul plan moving on Capitol Hill by spring, and hopes lawmakers will lead the effort. He has reason to make haste; during the campaign, Obama promised universal coverage for every American by the end of his first term. And with the way Washington works, it may very well take four years to get there.

Obama must have tremendous faith in Daschle. Not only has the president-elect selected Daschle as HHS chief, but he’s also been made director of the White House Office of Health Reform. While it’s expected he will sail through the confirmation process, Daschle will likely get hit by tough questions over Obama’s controversial call for a new public health insurance plan to compete with private insurers.

Speaking of Hillary, she’s wasting no time filling the State Department with her people, and she’s not even secretary of state yet.

The New York Times says Clinton is filling out senior posts within State, and keeping on the respected William J. Burns as under secretary for political affairs. She’s expected to name Kurt M. Campbell as assistant secretary for East Asian affairs, where he’ll deal with North Korea and their nuclear program. Wendy Sherman, who also has North Korean experience and advised President Clinton on the region, will also get a gig.

No doubt Mrs. Clinton’s learned a few things in the past few years, and now, she always wants to be sure she hits the ground running.