On occasion I have often had to cite an entire article so that the reader can get the full orb or scope of the subject matter being discussed. In the current case, there are several topics to discuss – the criminal negligence of this presidency that has become Benghazigate, the abuse of federal power for overt partisan political reasons that has become IRS Gate, and one or two others. One fundamental and inescapable fact is that all of these lie at the very core of what is perhaps the most corrupt and lawless and politically-charged administration in the history of this nation. Things do not happen in a vacuum, they are the cause and effects of forces of nature that push and pull and war against one another; they just don’t happen.
The Washington Post, true to its history and political bias, has come once again to the rescue of this administration. Take for example its latest entry into the entire row of scandals that have rocked the Obama second term just months after the president taking his oath of office, which to many Americans he has yet to faithfully execute. In this entry I will cite in brown the Post’s article and my own answer and observations following. The article is another example of a press corps that has been politically hijacked by activists of one major political party and used as nothing more than the propaganda mouth piece of an administration that often shamelessly uses it as that. Here it is…
By Karen Tumulty and Philip Rucker, Published: May 11
Recent events suggest that the 44th president may not be immune to the phenomenon that historians call the “second-term curse.”
Not four months after his ambitious inaugural address, President Obama finds himself struggling to move his legislative agenda through an unbudging Congress.
CLARIFICATION: How are these two writers defining “unbudging”? And what do they infer by such a charge? Unbudging on what? The president’s own allies in congress and especially in the US Senate still controlled by them, have not been able to come up with a working budget in years, although this is one required responsibility of theirs. So what are these people talking about? And why should this or any congress wish to promote or advance Obama’s agenda? Why are these writers inferring that it should?
WASHINGTON POST: Tumulty and Rucker: And over the past week, two flaring controversies — handling of the killing of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans in Libya, the other over Internal Revenue Service employees targeting tea party groups for special scrutiny — have dominated the discussion in Washington.
It is far from clear how big a political liability either will turn out to be.
At a minimum, they represent diversions working against a president who is keenly aware of how little time he has left to achieve big things.
CLARIFICATION: Potential criminal negligence in the handling of a terrorist attack on our consulate and the murder of our people in Benghazi on September 11th, 2012 a mere “diversion”!? The greatest terrorist strike against our embassy compound since the blowing of the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania during the Clinton years, mere “diversions”?
And just what do the writers mean by writing that this president is “keenly aware of how little time he has left TO ACHIEVE BIG THINGS”!? What nonsense is this masquerading as journalism!?
WASHINGTON POST: Tumulty and Rucker: And they are a test of the insular Obama team’s skill at keeping its footing in an environment of hyperpartisan politics and hair-trigger media.
CLARIFICATION: Again, what nonsense is this calling a House Oversight Committee’s exercise of its role to investigate government oversight “hyperpartisan politics” and its reporting by some news outlets such as CNN and Fox as hair-trigger media!? What utter nonsense is this!? The role of congress is to investigate any and all activities within our government where either an act or various acts of alleged or potential criminality has occurred. This is how the House Oversight Committee describes its operations and responsibilities:
“We exist to secure two fundamental principles. First, Americans have a right to know that the money Washington takes from them is well spent. And second, Americans deserve an efficient, effective government that works for them. Our duty on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee is to protect these rights.
Our solemn responsibility is to hold government accountable to taxpayers, because taxpayers have a right to know what they get from their government. We will work tirelessly, in partnership with citizen-watchdogs, to deliver the facts to the American people and bring genuine reform to the federal bureaucracy.
This is the mission of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee”
Quoted from the website of the Committee On Oversight and Government Reform.
So what do Ms. Tumulty and Mr. Rucker mean by openly taking sides with this administration by referring to these latest scandals now being investigated by our government, as they should be regardless of what political party is in office, and thank God for that, because these are the checks and balances put into place by our Founding Fathers so that our government would be accountable for its actions and the use of our taxes!? Why are these two journalists concerned that our government is functioning as it should? As our Founders intended? That there is accountability as long as congress exercises its role to oversee the activities and expenditures of other branches of our government?
WASHINGTON POST: Tumulty and Rucker: On Friday, for instance, news of the IRS admission and developments surrounding the Benghazi attack turned White House press secretary Jay Carney’s daily briefing into a feeding frenzy and drowned out coverage of a speech that Obama was giving that day on the implementation of the health-care law that stands as his biggest achievement.
CLARIFICATION:What’s wrong with Jay Carney having to explain the misuse of federal power? Of a major arm of our government – an agency with police and prosecutorial powers over the citizens – abuse of that power to gather personal information of a religious and political nature of targeted groups of people and organizations to be used against them!? The act of doing this is so un-American and such a breach of trust that it must be reported and those behind it brought to justice. And why call the media’s demand for information and accountability on this a “feeding frenzy”!? Why is this a “feeding frenzy” to these two writers?
WASHINGTON POST: Tumulty and Rucker: “After the election, the president said he was familiar with the literature on second-term difficulties,” said presidential historian Michael Beschloss. “We scholars may be about to see whether knowledge of that history can help a president when they begin to strike.”
“What we’ve seen in the past week reignites the question scholars ask about problematic second terms,” Beschloss added. “Is it mainly a coincidence that every president of the past 80 years has had a hard time after getting reelected? Or is it somehow baked into the structure of a second-term presidency that some combination of serious troubles is going to happen?”
CLARIFICATION: With all due respect to Misters Tumulty and Rucker and Beechloss; the abuse of power by the IRS or any federal agency with police and prosecutorial powers over the citizenry and the possible criminal negligence of members of our government, are not just second term troubles; they’ve occurred precisely because – and this is lost to Misters Tumulty, Rucker, and Beechless – this administration has engaged in them and must be made to account for their actions by the only arm of our government vested with those powers. This is not just mere “diversions” and “hyperpartisan politics,” but the exercise of an essential role our government must play in order to protect and preserve the delicate balance of power that prevents this nation from falling to tyranny and villainy. Such actions may rattle your cages, but they are a must if we are to live as a free people. Rather than complaining about it, you should be praising it as you did the Watergate investigations.
WASHINGTON POST: Tumulty and Rucker: White House officials acknowledge that the history of modern second-term presidencies is a sobering one, replete with scandal and failure.
But they insist that they have seen nothing to suggest that Obama will fall into the traps that have ensnared so many of his predecessors: nothing that rivals the Watergate investigation that drove Richard M. Nixon out of office in 1974, the Iran-contra scandal that nearly derailed Ronald Reagan’s presidency in 1986,or the impeachment of Bill Clinton in 1998.
The current furor will serve only to make Obama’s opponents look bad, they predict.
“Partisan investigations by the Republicans have been a part of daily life around here since the Republicans took over the House in 2011. Every time they jump up and down and scream, ‘Watergate,’ they end with egg on their face,” said White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer. “I don’t see this as a second-term phenomenon. It’s just life with the GOP in charge.”
CLARIFICATION: Again, the current investigations and those that preceded (Memogate, Fast and Furious, Solyndragate, and several others) were not “partisan investigations,” as charged by apologists in this administration and unchallenged in this article; but actual, valid, and legitimate investigations into very real acts of lawlessness with potential criminality by this administration and agencies within our government. The investigations are a part of the oversight role of our government and its checks and balances. It is being purposely being mischaracterized by these writers who leave the claims made by this White House unchallenged. Why are Misters Tumulty and Rucker taking what this White House say at face value? Why!?
WASHINGTON POST: Tumulty and Rucker: But even some of Obama’s allies worry privately that his difficulties may be made worse by his lack of deep relationships on Capitol Hill, notwithstanding his round of dinners with members lately. His congressional liaison, Miguel Rodriguez, came to the job virtually unknown by lawmakers. The president himself has a tendency to hunker down with a tight circle of loyalists.
CLARIFICATION: Excuse me, but Mr. Obama barely served as a junior senator from Illinois when he made his appearance in Washington. He may have made many political allies and friends back in Chicago, but almost immediately being elected to the US Senate; with barely a few months of service as a junior senator, Mr. Obama got the “presidential bug” and decided to run for the presidency. He didn’t have time to make friends, and those who support him have to one extent or another been machine operatives within his own party. Those whom have worked with him in the Senate have observed that though he is personable on a stage with a teleprompter, personally the man is distant and aloof, and prefer to confer only with people he can trust. The Post article by Misters Tumulty and Rucker appears to admit this where it says, “The president himself has a tendency to hunker down with a tight circle of loyalists.”
WASHINGTON POST: Tumulty and Rucker: “I don’t think he has adequate people questioning him on these things,” said one close Obama ally and Washington veteran. He agreed to speak frankly on the condition that he not be identified.
CLARIFICATION:Again, why are statements coming out of this White House by apologists and activists being taken as blanket fact by the writers of this article? Why aren’t they being challenged by these “journalists” and their feet held to the fire? What kind of journalism is this!?
WASHINGTON POST: Tumulty and Rucker: Obama’s aides remain optimistic about his ability to rack up major achievements, starting with the successful implementation of the health-care law enacted during his first term and including the passage of a comprehensive overhaul of the immigration system.
“From the president on down, we all understand that controversies and distractions are going to arise,” said White House communications director Jennifer Palmieri. “But we try to keep a good sense of understanding the difference between what people care about and what is just politics.”
The current political culture “creates more froth around these controversies, but what is the impact?” added Palmieri, a Clinton White House veteran. “Things definitely move quickly now and go away faster than they used to.”
CLARIFICATION:Again, “Obama’s aides” statements go unchallenged and unquestioned by Misters Tumulty and Rucker. Why!? This is not “just politics.” The Obama Admnistration’s actions and public statements surrounding the scandals that have followed them is the only “just politics” in this equation, and not the investigations themselves. They are a vital act of oversight by the only branch of government authorized by our Constitution to conduct them. To call this “just politics” is reprehensible, and shows the contempt these people and their apologists in the Washington Post have for the rule of law.
WASHINGTON POST: Tumulty and Rucker: It is true that the president’s adversaries are already predicting the most dire consequences, particularly from the questions that have arisen over the administration’s forthrightness in its response to the Benghazi attack.
“I believe that before it’s all over, this president will not fill out his full term,” former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee predicted on his radio show. “As bad as Watergate was because it broke the trust between the president and the people, no one died. This is more serious because four Americans did in fact die. And President Obama has yet to explain why did they die.”
Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) has labeled the Benghazi case “the most serious and most egregious coverup in American history.”
“We may be starting to use the I-word before too long,” Inhofe told conservative talk radio host Rusty Humphries, referring to the possibility of impeachment.
But the unease is no longer confined to the right, particularly after three State Department officials appeared before Congress last week and criticized administration actions before, during and after the Sept. 11 attacks in Libya. E-mails from that chaotic period that have come to light through media reports in recent days suggest there was furious infighting among various agencies over the talking points presented as the administration’s first explanation of the events.
CLARIFICATION: People, these are not just statements from the president’s poltical opponents; they’re a matter of fact. These events occurred and this administration was in full campaign mode before a crucial presendital election, and there is mounting evidence of a cover-up reaching all the way up to the White House itself.
WASHINGTON POST: Tumulty and Rucker: “There is no evidence the White House is hiding the truth about what occurred in Benghazi,” journalist David Corn wrote in left-leaning Mother Jones magazine. “But the White House has indeed been caught not telling the full story.”
CLARIFICATION: David Corn is a committed radical and apologist of every left-wing cause, organization, and politician whose ever been involved in our nation’s capital. Why should we be surprised that he’d make a brief appearance in support of the activities of this White House? That the writers of this article should quote him verbatim without so much as a challenge should send red flags everywhere about these two writers and their intent and objectivity, as credible journalists.
WASHINGTON POST: Tumulty and Rucker: Meanwhile, the IRS’s admission that it singled out tea party groups for special scrutiny in deciding whether to grant tax-exempt status has confirmed accusations by some of those organizations that they were treated improperly.
The agency insists that decision was made by low-level career employees in its Cincinnati office and was not done for political purposes. But the revelation set off an outcry over what Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called “thuggish practices.”
An inspector general’s report set to be released this week says senior IRS officials knew that agents were giving special attention to conservative groups in 2011, nine months before then-commissioner Douglas H. Shulman told Congress that the agency was not doing so.
CLARIFICATION: It is now being discovered, though gone unreported (spiked) by Misters Tumulty and Rucker in this article, that the IRS’s activities were not confined only to “low-level employees in its Cincinnati, Ohio office, but across the nation in several cities, conducting by many branches of the IRS. This information is about to explode. IF the IRS is going to be the federal agency that this administration will be using to implement and oversee Obama’s Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare; then it must be above reproach and its activities subjected to the law of the land and not its abuse.
WASHINGTON POST: Tumulty and Rucker: “Benghazi and the IRS, each one taken in isolation is in the ankle-biting category,” said historian David Kennedy. “But if you add up enough ducks, they can peck you to death. It’s a sea of trouble.”
Chris Lehane, one of the “masters of disaster” who ran the damage-control operation in the Clinton White House, said Obama’s staff has failed to follow some basic rules for dealing with a potential scandal: avoid putting out a narrative that will not be sustained by the facts and get in front of damaging information by making it public before your adversaries do.
For instance, “if they had put those [Benghazi] e-mails out on their own terms, they would have gotten a little more of the benefit of the doubt,” Lehane said. “There’s no question that if they had basically applied the fundamentals of crisis management, they would be in a different situation today.”
But with the attack happening less than two months before voters went to the polls last year, “they may have made the decision that it was better to win the presidential election and deal with the fallout on the other side,” Lehane said.
CLARIFICATION: WRONG! What this administration should have done and did not; was to admit error. To take responsibility for their failures, for the loss of life, for the tragedies, for the criminal negligence, and for trying to cover it all up; not try to change the narrative and spin it out of proportion in order to divert damage from themselves and project it as partisanship on their political enemies. In short; they should stop playing the political football and begin to lead, and if they can’t do that, then they are unfit and untrustworthy of holding the offices they currently hold, because they are jeopardizing our nation’s security and are a clear and present danger in our midst – a Trojan Horse.
WASHINGTON POST: Tumulty and Rucker: History suggests that rocky terrain lay ahead on that other side.
“Every second-term president, at least since Eisenhower with the U-2 [spy plane shot down in Soviet airspace] has somehow gone into a ditch,” said Ken Duberstein, who was White House chief of staff during Reagan’s second term.
“The suggestions that Obama is in a deep ditch are probably premature,” Duberstein added. “But when you get in a ditch, you need to stop digging. You need to put down the shovel.”
CLARIFICATION: What these people say speaks volumes about their integrity or lack thereof. It speaks volumes about the type of people being elected to hold public office and entrusted with the public trust. It speaks volumes of people who call themselves public servants. It speaks volumes of why our nation keeps getting into one crisis after another, and why we are reeling under the worse economy since the Great Depression. It speaks volumes of why no matter the rhetoric coming from this president and this White House, every action taken by them has had the opposite effect of what the president has claimed for it. Why the bouquet of roses he offers always turns to ashes when accepted by an unsuspecting citizenry. And it speaks volumes of the type of journalism that now reports these stories.
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