Weekly Opinion Editorial
by Steve Fair
Dark days are looming for the Obama administration. US Attorney General Eric Holder is at odds
with his sworn testimony on the Fox News reporter scandal. The Justice Department has been conducting a
criminal investigation of James Rosen, a Fox reporter, since 2010, but Holder
said he knew nothing about it. But the
AG evidently signed search warrant requests in the case, which puts him in
conflict with his testimony before Congress.
Opps, forgot about that warrant.
Add Holder’s harassment of the press issue to the Benghazi attack and the
IRS scandal and you have a trifecta. Interesting enough Obama’s approval
ratings improved the last two weeks according to Gallup.
50% of Americans approve of the job he is doing and 43% disapprove. But rest assured those numbers will change as
Congress conducts more extensive hearings on the three aforementioned scandals.
Rep. Paul Ryan, (R-Wisconsin) Chairman of the House Budget
Committee, said on Fox last week that it will take ‘months’ to find out the
truth of what happened in the IRS scandal.
Ryan said it is already known the IRS targeted not only Tea Party
groups, but religious groups that were conservative in nature. They also targeted GOP donors as well. When asked about whether Congress would give
Lois Lerner, the IRS official in charge of Tax Exempt Division, immunity to
testify, Ryan said that decision had not yet been made. Lerner pled the Fifth Amendment before
Congress during her testimony, which could mean she knows more. If the tentacles of this scandal reach the
White House, you could certainly be talking impeachment.
In the shadow of the IRS and Holder scandals are the Benghazi attacks. It shouldn’t be. American ambassador Chris Stevens was killed
along with three other Americans. The
embassy had repeatedly requested additional security. The question is; did the former Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton ignore those repeated requests for additional security
from diplomats on the ground? The email
evidence appears to prove she did. Did
the President know about the requests? It
is certain the Obama administration attempted to downplay the attack as a mere
random act of violence instead of the work of terrorists. Rest assured, when the white light is thrown
on Hillary, she will not fall on the sword for Obama. This scandal has career
diplomats incensed and they appear to be willing to break from their long
standing tradition of staying out of politics to protect their people on the
ground.
So what does the President do during these tough times? He becomes what some have called the
Consoler-in Chief. He traveled to Moore to participate in a
memorial service for the victims of the tornado. He traveled to New Jersey to walk along the boardwalk with
Governor Christie to view the progress being made on rebuilding after the
hurricane.
Critics say Obama was exploiting these tragedies in order to
distract from the scandals in his administration and that may well be the case. But it was proper for the President to come
to Oklahoma. It was the right thing to do. I commend him for his conduct during his time
here. After all, he is the President of
this great country. Bear in mind, it
takes some political will to travel to the reddest of the red states if you are
Democrat president. Oklahoma has not voted for a Democrat
presidential candidate since 1960 and in the last three presidential elections,
all 77 counties voted for the Republican nominee. We are the only state to have done so. Yet the President came to Oklahoma.
I don’t know his motivation, but he deserves the respect of Oklahomans
for making the effort.
House.
It will only take one and the odds are not in the President’s favor.
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