Obama's Rough Patch

So we thought that perhaps once President Obama’s second term began, Congressional factions would have little choice but to concentrate on getting stuff done. What were we thinking?

Opponents of the President are basking in the steam from the boiling pot, with no fewer than three scandals brewing. There’s the security failure at Benghazi; the selective targeting of Tea Party groups by the IRS; and the Justice Department’s acquisition of AP phone records to track down a leak.

The Benghazi issue has been characterized by the administration as a “sideshow.” Not a good word choice, as it involves an apparent failure that led to the deaths of four people, including a U.S. ambassador. Is the White House itself at fault? So far, probably not, but it’s generally agreed that a ball was dropped – the question is, who dropped it? Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, because of her failure to read cables asking for more security for diplomatic personnel in Banghazi? She wouldn’t be the first CEO to have glossed over a communication. And I bet all her Republican critics in Congress have read all the bills they vote on, right? Still, the administration failed to get ahead of this problem, and at the very least, it turned into an unnecessary PR crisis.

The IRS? Its selective targeting of Tea Party groups is inexcusable, and this scandal comes at a really bad time, as the implementation of Obamacare is supposed to come with the agency’s oversight of the program. The only thing that mitigates it,  IMHO, is that some of these Tea Party groups were seeking tax-exempt status, and the IRS was trying to dig into whether that was really appropriate. IMHO again, if we had a simple, clear and sensible tax code, this problem wouldn’t exist in the first place, but that, as they say, is a separate animal.

The least important of these scandals for the average American seems to be the DOJ’s acquisition of the AP’s phone records, supposedly because it “only” involves the media. Many forget that the records will lead authorities to government officials who had confidential contact with reporters, and going forward, officials may be spooked about ever talking to a reporter again. Are we living in East Germany? If we can’t have a free press doing its job, we may not have a democracy, either.

At the bottom, or the top, if you prefer, of the AP thing is Attorney General Eric Holder. IMHO once more, if anyone in the Obama administration should be falling on his sword, it’s this guy. We’ve already been through Fast and Furious with his non-answers. President Obama would save himself a lot of grief by showing Holder the door as soon as possible.

Impeachment? Well, I’ve seen this movie before, so I’m going to take my popcorn and go home.