Here we go again. More scandal and uproar under the watchful eye (not) of Barack Obama, this time courtesy of the good ol'IRS - everyone's favorite to love-to-hate. It's so par for the course for ol' BO to stand up at a press conference and say "This is unacceptable!" that we have all become immune to it. When ya gonna actually do something about it, for a change? Like kick some royal presidential ass?!
This blog has been pretty clear about how we feel that this presidency should have been a one term affair, even while kinda liking the guy. He's apparently a very good man. But that does not compare with being a very good leader when you have the job of being CEO of a vast country. Maybe he's too nice a guy, and that is the problem? George Bush was misguided, but he was a stronger President and leader.
And you know, you can only weather so many scandals, outrages, accusations of secrecy and White House subterfuge, etc. before the one commonality becomes well, you! Yes, yes, I can hear the bleating and the bleeding hearts, yes, of course he was a better choice in terms of world peace than Mitt Romney, even if Mitt would have put more people back to work in America. Where the Republicans failed miserably to strike while the iron of public resentment was red hot, the Democrats remained firm in the belief that there was no competition. No need to get excited. They were right. A win, by default almost. As it undoubtedly was.
So, a rather ineffective leader (but dedicated campaigner-in-chief) got the benefit of the doubt for a mediocre first term, and was slipped back in to become a lame duck after one year of a second term. Four more, yes, but by year two it's all gonna be about the Clintons - just watch. Barack knows it's true, and he owes ol' Bill for a star power-laced stellar performance at the Democrative convention in 2012, and he owes our Hillary for suckin' it up and takin' a job under him - no shocker that she buckled down and became a celebrated Secretary of State.
Well, celebrated until Benghazi, at least. Those who oppose her, on both sides of the House, have already shown their hands on this issue, some blaming her for being asleep at the wheel for a security breach that cost US lives, including the Ambassador to Libya. The language used by the White House in the hours following the attack, downplaying it as a terrorist attack of any kind, didn'help. Nor did the accusations that Clinton was involved in a cover-up and had blocked the State Department's counterterrorism unit from communicating on the issue on the night of the attack, and ignoring the intel that it was clearly al-Qaeda all along.
Whistleblowers from the State Department even alleged that they have been since threatened by unnamed insiders from the State Department, an allegation that has been denied. Uh huh. Then wheel in the then CIA director, David Petraeus, who himself became a security risk, and who had been alleged to be behind a mission to arm muslim brotherhood rebels in Syria, which was just a little too close for comfort. Petraeus himself appeared to not support the talking points as addressed by the White House following the attack, adding to the confusion.
Now here we have the IRS no less, accused of targeting conservative groups (including anything with the words "Tea" and "Party"in their name) and digging just a little too deep into the personal affairs of the personalities involved. Hmm, I wonder if they went digging into a guy called Jeff Martin, who shot to fame as the leader of a group called "The Tea Party", for example?! Ironically, it was Martin et al. who ended up selling their rights to the domain name to the political wing known as The Tea Party, for more than a song!
For a supposedly non-partisan outfit like the IRS, you simply cannot be seen to be targeting one side or the other, and profiling who might be worthy of some real skeleton-digging and muck-raking. Mr. Obama stated he was "angry" which is just about the same emotion many have over his administration's ongoing woes in general. But at least he felt sufficient pressure to act quickly, for once, and the Commissioner has been forced out, leaving the minions to face the scrutiny next.
As if all this is not enough, and bad enough, we now have two top soldiers responsible for controlling and eliminating sexual abuse in the military accused of, wait for it, hell yeah, sexual abuse! The Air Force had an officer who headed up a sexual assault prevention office who was arrested for assault, while the Army's man for prevention of sexual abuse was subsequently placed under investigation for the same. Are you kidding me?! As the bona fide Commander-in-Chief, he is responsible for sorting this out, too!
Oh, I bet Mr. Obama is "angry"with all of the above. He gets angry a lot. Has launched or been witness to more congressional investigations than all other presidents combined! But patience is wearing thin on his image as the ultimate in passive presidency, and his opponents are gearing up for a feeding frenzy. Michele Bachmann, who lost out to Mitt Romney in the last race, has even gone as far as mentioning "Obama" and ïmpeachment"in the same sentence - not that we think it will come to that - but still. If she can raise it, there is clearly something to moan about.
In general, we think his time has come. Get through this year, and then let the 2014-16 years be all about his successor (Dem or Rep) because his presidential obituary is more or less writ in stone by now, and nothing he says or does will change anything very much at this late stage. This trio of scandals simply underlines what we said back in 2009, and since - that he appears to be a very nice guy, but one who has simultaneously proven to have been a rather ineffectual President and an occasionally useless "leader"of the House. In fact, I might vouchsafe that the House has not had a leader since George Bush (as outrageous as that may sound), or at the very best, since mid-terms in 2010. Time for a change, people! - Kevin Mc
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