Scandals? So what?
I don’t think many will be happy with my thoughts regarding the “scandals” now circling the Obama White House, but I do want to say something about them, even though the subjects have been beaten to death already.
I watched the Benghazi hearing with the three whistleblowers. I caught some of the IRS hearing last week. I believe there was also one for the AP phone tapping, but I missed it for the most part.
I guess I question the revelation timing of the latter two, just as Benghazi was finally being put on the forefront of the national mind. And I guess, I can’t escape the question and requisite shrug that keeps replaying in my own mind to all three:
“So what?”
It’s not that I don’t care. I do. Deeply. What I mean is, I don’t think enough people in the federal government or the general public care. Until they do, nothing of consequence will happen.
Seriously. Do any of us actually paying attention to this, honestly believe that something significant will come out of any of this? Not while those in Washington, DC, and in the media, see this as nothing more than a 200-plus year old game of partisan politics.
Instead of really wanting to know who did what in the case of Benghazi, because four Americans died and less than satisfying answers have been given as to why, the question most raised has been, does this hurt Hillary Clinton’s chances for a presidential run in 2016?
As far as the IRS scandal is concerned, the official being raked over the coals last week wasn’t even the head of the department at the time the auditing took place. No, the person who was in charge is now heading up the IRS division that will deal with the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. The biggest question to come out on this so far is whether or not it was illegal for the IRS to do what it did when considering the applications of conservative, religious and other groups seeking tax exempt status. When asked, the acting director of the IRS answered that it wasn’t illegal, it was “inappropriate.”
Well, whoopee doo.
And as far as the AP having 120 of their reporters phones, emails, etc., wiretapped and read, who knows what’s going to happen there. Plugging a leak with national security ramifications through questionable means (at best) seems to be trumping freedom of the press.
Of the three, my guess is, the AP scnadal will go nowhere the most, since the media doesn’t hold much sympathy in the public eye (they’re about as trusted as Congress is), and because Attorney General Eric Holder has an ability to wiggle his way out of situations. In this case, he simply recused himself of the matter.
Well, I guess that’s it then. Move along citizens. Nothing to see here.
Unless some higher up officials decide to turn whistleblower, and they can come with the paper trail, the voicemail or the hidden video, nothing much will happen, and those of us who care will be left wondering what really happened. Instead, everyone will get away with what they’ve done, and will be able to do it again at some future time. Or, if not them, their replacements.
Well, I have some other thought rattling around my brain which I need to impart. “What goes around, comes around.” If you happen to believe that the ends justify the means while your person, party, or philosophy is in power, than you better be prepared to be on the receiving end of it when the other guy takes over.
And remember, too, that those who have a tendency to get what they want while overstepping lines of ethics if not the law itself, also have a propensity for throwing people under the bus. In other words, your own can turn on you just as easily as the enemy can.
That’s why I’ll take principles, basic understanding of right and wrong, over politics, any day. It’s why I have little faith anything will come of this latest dog and pony show, and why most people choose not to even pay attention.
Sad thing is, doing so got us into this mess, and eventually, it will be our undoing. A constitutional republic like ours can not long endure without a moral and engaged electorate. We are own worst enemy.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
