Conservative blogger Crystal Wright, writing at the Guardian, checks in on the various controversies swarming the Obama administration and determines that Republicans — and Americans in general, for that matter — only want answers.
How can Republicans in Congress work with President Obama when they can't trust him to be an honest broker or treat them with respect? If Obama isn't blaming Republicans for his inability to advance his agenda, he's calling them names. During Monday's White House press conference, Obama reiterated his disgust with the GOP's doggedness to get to the bottom of what happened in Benghazi.
"The whole issue of talking points, frankly, throughout this process has been a sideshow," said Obama. Belittling comments like these don't warm Republicans' hearts to help Obama advance one scintilla of an issue in his second term.
Call them what you will — sideshows or scandals — they seem to be swirling around the White House like bees to honey. Days after the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee concluded a fresh hearing into who knew what and when about the terrorist attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, the public learned the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) targeted conservative groups seeking non-profit exemption to engage in political activism. The IRS's interrogation style questioning of the groups began in 2010. It's hard to read this as anything other than appear politically motivated.
Joining British Prime Minister David Cameron Monday, President Barack Obama tried to set the record straight on both scandals declaring the IRS' actions "outrageous". If proven true, Obama said[,]
"people have to be held accountable, and it's got to be fixed … But I've got no patience with it. I will not tolerate it. And we will make sure that we find out exactly what happened on this."
But will Obama hold senior IRS officials accountable?
Read Crystal Wright's entire blog entry at the Guardian.
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