Remember the Last Time Obama was “Really” Angry About a Scandal?
Posted By Daniel Greenfield On May 19, 2014 @ 1:17 pm In The Point | 7 Comments
Obama is suddenly angry about the VA scandal in which vets were dying while waiting for health care. He’s angry even though he and his Center for American Progress bosses pushed cuts to Tricare health care for vets.
But at least now he’s “madder than hell”. That’s a good thing, right?
Last week, after a seemingly emotionless Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki told a Senate Committee he was “mad as hell” about the allegations of incompetence and corruption at VA hospitals, White House spokesman Jay Carney wouldn’t go quite that far when discussing the commander in chief’s outrage over the scandal. “He certainly is very concerned and angry about the allegations that we’ve seen regarding specifically the Phoenix office,” Carney told ABC News’ Jon Karl.
After 48 hours of focus testing, the White House spin machine discovered that voters want their president madder than that, so the White House chief of staff told CBS News’ Major Garrett that Obama was “madder than hell” over the growing scandal.
Because, you know, “madder” is more than “mad.”
How did the president express his “madder than hell” attitude? According to the Associated Press, he went golfing at a really nice country club:
That’s exactly what I do when I’m madder than hell. Except without the golfing or the nice club.
Let’s look at Obama’s track record of anger. The last time he got really angry was when the IRS was targeting his political opponents. Wink wink nudge nudge, say no more.
Anyway he was angry. Really, really angry.
“Americans have a right to be angry about it, and I’m angry about it,” Obama said.
“It should not matter what political stripe you’re from. The fact of the matter is, the IRS has to operate with absolute integrity,” the president said.
Obama pledged to work “hand in hand” with Congress as it investigates the matter, and vowed new safeguards will be put in place at the IRS so that “this doesn’t happen again.”
And how did that work out? After the initial scandal passed, Democrats have worked to obstruct the IRS investigation and the IRS has tried to formalize their targeting.
On May 22, 2013, the IRS director asserted her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and refused to testify before a House committee. She was placed on administrative leave. The following month, it was revealed that she received a $42,000 bonus. She retired in September.
On Jan. 9, 2014, it was revealed that the Department of Justice attorney leading the investigation was a donor to the president’s campaigns. A week later, the Justice Department revealed it would not bring any criminal charges. Attorneys for many of the targeted political groups complained that they had never been contacted in the investigation.
On Feb. 2, 2014, the president stated in a televised interview before the Super Bowl that although there “were some bone-headed decisions out of a local (IRS) office … (there was) not even a smidgen of corruption.”
That anger, is sure faded really fast. The current anger over the VA will fade quickly, a scapegoat who was going to leave anyway resigns, Democrats stonewall any investigation and it’s all business as usual.
Article printed from FrontPage Magazine:
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