http://www.commdiginews.com/politics-2/the-may-2014-updated-obama-scandals-user-handbook-17997/#zuqqmFyyBTGwMAZ4.99The May 2014 updated Obama scandals user handbook
By Eric Golub, Communities Digital News
NEW YORK, May 22, 2014 — The Obama scandals user handbook has been updated again, thanks to still more scandals by the Obama Administration.
One year ago, the Obama administration began facing several scandals. To keep up with the developments, an Obama scandals user handbook was created.
Approximately one month after the handbook was created, another Obama administration scandal developed. In addition to Benghazi, Fast and Furious, hacking of AP telephone records, and abuses by the IRS, EPA, and HHS, now there was the NSA scandal. The handbook was updated.
The administration could not stay out of trouble, so the November 2013 updated handbook included the Census Bureau scandal.
Now comes a fresh scandal involving the Veteran’s Administration.
As with every other scandal, President Obama repeats the same pattern. He expresses outrage, insisting that nobody is more upset about the situation than he is. He calls the situation “unacceptable” and promises to get to the bottom of the matter and hold people “accountable.” His supporters insist that Obama is blameless, and that critics are just playing politics. Time goes by, nobody is held accountable, and the pliant media forgets the story. Anyone asking questions is ridiculed for pursuing old news. Last-ditch efforts to change the subject involve bringing up former President George W. Bush and the Iraq War. when that fails, those seeking the truth are derided as racist bigots.
To avoid repetition, only new information is provided. The previous handbooks contain the original scandals. With those caveats in place, here is the May 2014 updated Obama scandals user handbook.
VA Abuses — The Department of Veterans Affairs had a backlog, causing long delays in seeing patients. Some patients died because they were not treated fast enough. The VA kept secret wait lists and doctoring data to avoid disclosing the depth and breadth of the delays. Although President Obama was warned about problems at the VA back in 2009, no substantive oversight took place. VA Secretary Eric Shinseki oversaw the failures, but Obama has a tendency not to fire people. As with most of the scandals, Obama claimed to know nothing about the VA scandal until the media reported it. Obama blamed wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which had nothing to do with why records were altered. Trying to find out who altered the records could take years, since the Obama administration is not know for voluntarily cooperating with investigations.
Benghazi — Despite former Obama National Security Advisor Tommy Vietor acting like a teenager on television and telling a moderator Brett Baier, “Dude, this was two years ago,” new information is coming to light. The question of who blamed the radical Islamist attack on an internet video has now been released. Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communication Ben Rhodes pushed the video narrative. His emails were enough to get House Speaker John Boehner to appoint a select committee in the House. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid blocked forming a select committee in the upper chamber. South Carolina Congressman Trey Gowdy, a prosecutor by trade, is heading up the House committee.
Democrats initially threatened not to take part, since the committee has seven Republicans and five Democrats. Republicans pointed out that every committee has more majority members, and that an even 6-6 split would allow Democrats to derail the committee altogether. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi caved and named five Democrats, with Elijah Cummings of Maryland being the minority lead. Cummings has a reputation of trying to discredit hearings to protect Obama at all costs. Unanswered questions include Obama’s whereabouts on the night of the Benghazi attacks, the name of the individual who gave the stand down order, and the location and public testimony of Benghazi survivors being kept hidden by the government.
Four dead Americans including Ambassador Chris Stevens and a pair of Navy SEALs occurred on the eleventh anniversary of the original 9/11 attacks. Why the Obama administration was unprepared for the 2012 attacks is another unanswered question.
IRS abuses — Initially the targeting of Tea Party and other conservative groups was blamed on low-level rogue IRS bureaucrats in Cincinnati. Now it has come to light that the targeting came straight out of Washington, D.C. One year after inadvertently waiving her Fifth Amendment rights, Lois Lerner was brought back in front of Congress. After again refusing to answer questions, she was placed in contempt of Congress. Speaker Boehner could have Lerner arrested, but seems scared to do so. Contempt citations otherwise fall under the purview of Attorney General Eric Holder, but he himself has been held in Contempt of Congress. He has a history of enforcing laws selectively, and is not expected to pursue any matter that could reflect badly on his boss. Committee Chair Darrell Issa was repeatedly undermined by Cummings, who had his own motive for subverting these hearings. He was one of the main people who ordered the IRS targeting of conservatives to begin with. He has maintained his innocence, despite emails showing his complicity. There is no way Republicans will have the stomach to hold Cummings accountable, given his past use of the race card in defending himself. Some conservatives want to give Lerner immunity, but Gowdy is dead set against this.
HHS and Obamacare — Initially Kathlees Sebelius was accused of illegally threatening businesses to support the Affordable Care Act. Now Americans know that President Obama himself lied when he said that people could keep their doctors and plans. As more people see their own healthcare plans replaced with inferior plans, President Obama sees his credibility plummet. However, Sebelius resigned under pressure, most likely sparing her from being personally held accountable for the Obamacare debacle.
Other scandals have had little to no movement.
Fast and Furious — Eric Holder has been held in criminal and civil contempt. Criminal contempt goes nowhere since he is in charge of pursuing those charges. The civil contempt charge is winding its way through the courts slowly. A judge could order Holder to reveal who authorized the botched gunrunning sting that got an American border guard killed. A judge could also block the matter.
AP telephone records — No new information has surfaced on who listened in on private phone calls of Fox News reporter James Rosen and other journalists.
EPA abuses — Director Lisa Jackson used her private email to avoid the transparency of using her government email address to harass businesses. Unless Republicans take over the Senate, this scandal may remain buried.
NSA Spying — This is the one scandal Republicans are reluctant to push because the Republican Party does not agree on its severity. Senator Rand Paul and the Libertarians are outraged, but many national security conservatives are fine with the program provided it does not go beyond data mining.
Census Bureau — Americans may never know if President Obama manipulated job numbers before the election. He is reelected, and his census is not going to cooperate with an investigation.
The Obama record — On domestic and foreign policy, virtually everything Obama does fails. Wealthy white liberals focus on the fictional climate change and war on women crises and gay marriage to avoid discussing Obama’s many failures.
