Obama’s no good, horrible, very bad week
I have no idea whether the revelations of the last week or so will end up eroding Obama’s support in any way that matters. But I do know that they appear to have presented him with the worst set of political problems since his presidency began, and at least have the potential for finally making the American people distrust him in a major way.
It’s not Benghazi that makes the difference. Benghazi, important as it is to us blogosphere wonks, is just too complex, too distant in time and place, and therefore too difficult for most people to process and relate to. And it’s probably not any single one of the rest of the machinations, either, although they come closer: the IRS audits, the AP press phone records being obtained by the Department of Justice, or the “unusual” fundraising methods Sebelius used in an attempt to fund Obamacare (a scandal-in-the-making that has so far raised less of a ruckus than the others, but which could become more prominent with time). It’s the picture presented by the whole thing, the sense of something very much not right with the Obama administration, its vaunted “transparency,” its sneaky and heavy use of power, and the atmosphere it has created in government as a whole. Simply put, these actions—whether or not Obama personally ordered them—foster distrust and feed into people’s already-existing paranoia about possible government excesses.
The IRS investigations, especially, may have this effect. As many people have pointed out, everybody hates the IRS. And so the IRS audit of conservative groups is both easy to understand and easy to fear even if a person isn’t conservative him/herself. As for secretly invading AP reporters’ privacy—including their personal cell phone records—to find a leaker, that’s a case of the Obama administration actually doing what many people feared about Bush. The airwaves are full of people explaining that the information could, and should, have been obtained in a number of simpler ways, and that this was way too broad a fishing expedition.
What’s more, the administration has by this action bitten the very hand that feeds them—the AP, which has been nothing if not kind to Obama. What an excellent way to turn allies in the press into enemies.
Whether or not Obama was aware of all or most of these goings-on (and I believe he was), the multiple and almost simultaneous disclosures create a strong suspicion that he was aware—either that, or that he has been incompetent at reining his people in, and/or has created an atmosphere in which his underlings feel they can flex their powerful government muscles without ever being checked. As William A. Jacobson of Legal Insurrection asks, “The whole fish is rotten, but the head doesn’t know?”
[ADDENDUM: If you’re having trouble sorting all the Troubles out, here’s a guide.]
Let us not forget Fast and Furious. Worse than Watergate, people died. The pattern is to run out the clock on the old scandals by stonewalling as long as possible, which appears to be long enough.
Neo: “As for secretly invading AP reporters’ privacy–including their personal cell phone records–to find a leaker, that’s a case of the Obama administration actually doing what many people feared about Bush.”
Here is a need and an opportunity to rehabilitate Bush’s legacy with a Bush v Obama frame.
Doing so accomplishes 2 things:
One, break the left’s damage-control tactic that no matter the transgression, Obama is still better or at least no worse than Bush. That anything bad about Obama is from Bush.
Pegging criticisms of Obama to Bush is a sneaky counter-attack to make sure any dirt on Obama is transferred or at least shared by the GOP, so the GOP is dragged down and cannot rise above the Dems.
The GOP needs to break that drag-down chain by showing that Obama’s trangressions are distinct and Bush was better.
Two, by rehabilitating Bush’s legacy and exposing BDS as a wide-ranging fraud, the GOP will take the political high ground, and flip the Dems onto the low ground they built from BDS.
Punishing Obama and the Dems for what they did to Bush, spoiling our nation’s affairs, and corrupting our political environment, is needed medicine for our nation’s politics.
It might have the “potential” for pissing in the soup but, as I have noted numerous times before, Obama remains “Too black to fail.”
I think part of the problem with Fast and Furious is that it was so over the top. Running guns to Mexican cartels. Only an evil administration would do that.
Low information voters are used to rejecting over the top claims, particularly with respect to Obama: communist, Kenyan, Muslim, etc. Add in running guns to mexican cartels . . .
If the media weren’t so in the tank for this guy, I’d say there was some trouble.
However, all these controversies will be minimized, pinned on a few convenient underlings, cease to be reported upon, and fade away when the next big news story not involving the Obama administration hits.
And if someone like Hillary gets hurt by the fallout, it makes Michelle Obama in 2016 all the more likely. Win-win for team Obama.
Obama is looking like that guy who “rescued” the three girls in the slave house. Everyone just fell in love with him, didn’t they. And what did the guy do? Not much. He did what anyone should have done. He wasn’t even a “rescuer.” He merely heard some cries and exercised common sense and decency. And that was supposed to make him a hero? He was a good Samaritan and coming the the aid of human being in dire immediate need is not heroic; it’s merely human. But because this guy was black and a little cute (as well as self-promoting) everyone just wanted to love on him. Without checking anything else. Kind of a microcosm on Obama except Obama really is a fraud. But here’s the thing: with both persons it wasn’t their qualities which promoted them but our own self-perceived shortcomings. Now that time has showed the real level of Obama’s abilities, no wonder we have buyer’s remorse.
The rescuer was a phenom because he was first on the scene. Everybody’s a hero these days, so what he did was heroic.
OTOH, there are some who would look at the situation and recoil, wondering what to do until, maybe, too late.
When will people recall that the IRS will be enforcing Obamacare? Conservative? No operation for you.
The AP thing isn’t actually that bad. I know, I know, but it isn’t. Basic phone records are not given 4th amendment protection. If AP had objected to the search/subpoena, they could have quashed it. It’s really an indictment of the 4th amendment jurisprudence that this isn’t a problem, but that’s the war on terror and drugs for you.
However, it is useful bc the press is now on alert. They will look at these other scandals now and see them in a different light. It’s all about self-interest with these people.
holmes: the trouble with the AP search isn’t so much that it was illegal, it’s that it was overbroad and unnecessary, and alienated a group that was predisposed to be favorable to Obama. It also feeds into people’s suspicions of government, and that isn’t good for Obama’s agenda either.
No, I agree the appearances are really bad. It’s just not as substantive an offense.
But there’s been so much:
Harassing reporters? Check!
http://danaloeschradio.com/reporter-claims-irs-harassment-after-tough-obama-interview/
EPA in on the act?
Check!
http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/2529609#.UZIq1hQ69Ts.twitter
Not only what the IRS was doing but how egregiously they were doing it and the manner of intimidation:
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2013/05/13/a-few-of-the-crazy-things-the-irs-asked-conservative-groups-to-divulge/
And remember how someone got a hold of the private company, Koch Industries’, tax records during the campaign?
Obama’s terrible week is perceived as terrible for him only by the tea party people and other Obama disdainers. For his loyal minions and the low information voter, there is either a doubling down (see clip of Chairman Emeritus of NAACP) or nothing at all.
Obama couldn’t care either way. He’s got his golden parachute and if he doesn’t succeed, oh well.
http://hotair.com/archives/2013/05/14/former-naacp-chair-its-legit-for-the-irs-to-look-at-the-tea-party-the-taliban-wing-of-american-politics/
“Obama couldn’t care either way. He’s got his golden parachute and if he doesn’t succeed, oh well”
Now would be a really good time to introduce the Glenn Reynolds legislation calling for a tax on public officials who move to the private sector over and above what they earned as an office holder. I’ll start the bidding at 80%.
Michelle would be so pissed! Making a mere 500k, which is like 250k after taxes.
Michelle was pre-election (2008) bellyacheing about how difficult it was to raise two kids in Chicago on $350,000 a year…
About the AP – they could not quash the Justice Dept request because they were NEVER NOTIFIED. And no one has yet produced a judge’s signature on a warrant. The fact that there was a Grand Jury at the time does not mean the request originated with the GJ.
The press won’t bail. They’re in too deep. They have a perch on which they’re obscenely over paid, their ambition is fed and fed and fed, and their consciences are quite happy at being on the side of the angels. No, Dear Neo, don’t hope for their repentance.
its going to get worse..
china launches an anti satellite missile..
i guess its a new one to handle GPS
like the new missile for carriers..
and that India is kind of nervous
but the capture of a bumbling idiot as a CIA spy by FSB in Russia, with photos, and proof… thats going to be interesting for Mr reset… (which didn’t say reset)
you aint seen nothing yet…
will they use more gas in syria?
will Israel get peeved at IRS acts for gliechshaltung against Z street and others?
will obama’s golf game improve?
will he shed another tear?
tune into the days of our lives…
your surmising what it is is interesting
but my assessment is that you throw enough crap around, someone gets hit with something. so there is no coherent he did all this, there is just lots of different crap touching enough different people. so you get malaise, not consensus.
What’s more, the administration has by this action bitten the very hand that feeds them–the AP, which has been nothing if not kind to Obama.
no…. i bet they were being ‘intimidated’ and manipulated by the information from the wires… and like Bernie madoff smiling when caught, they are now free to act and divulge, pourquoi non? with the only person to go to otherwise being holder, smile as the fox gnaws would have been the order of the day.
even the court jesters are silent…
“Comedians are afraid to mock Obama”
Will the AP and the lame stream, lap dog media act like battered wives, and excuse him, or finally rise up in at least partial righteous indignation and scream “We hate you, Barack George W. Richard Milhouse Obama!”
My money’s on the former.
There’s three and a half years to go. Do you really think that what’s been revealed so far is all there is? Please, Obama is a politician from the South Side of Chicago. There’s bound to be a lot more corruption that’s going to surface and it’s going to smell really bad.
His Chicago associates included people like Ayers, a man who ran an organization that murdered people, Rezko, a con man, and the Reverend Wright, racist, anti-Semite, and anti-American. And don’t forget that Valerie Jarett, one of Chicago’s largest slum lords, is his closest advisor and lives in the White House. A decent person wouldn’t let one of these people into their living room.