Monday, December 19, 2016

Obama’s legacy rhetoric belies scandal-scarred presidency

 U.S. President Barack Obama pauses while answers question during his news conference at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Lima, Peru, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2016. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

A president on his way out of town, like a dinner guest who frets the next morning that he talked too much and stayed too long, is obsessed with how he’ll be remembered. As the days dwindle down to a precious few, he spends his time bolstering his image and polishing what he imagines will be his “legacy.” He’s prone to inflating accomplishments and shading the truth about the disasters that occurred on his watch. President Obama is indulging himself only a little more than usual.

He boasts in an interview that his pride swells when he regards his eight years in the White House as “scandal free.” It’s true that no one was jailed for taking a bribe, but calling his administration “scandal free” is more than a stretch. All presidents live in a bubble, but Mr. Obama appears not to have subscribed to a newspaper, not even The Washington Post or The New York Times, over these past eight years. If he had, he could have read about scandals.


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Comment elsewhere by Anonymous  

This is laughable. The Obama administration boasts that he leaves with a relatively scandal-free legacy.

Whereas, I can think of two-dozen scandals that plague his legacy, and even exceeds that of Bill Clinton's administration.

✓ IRS targets Obama’s enemies to include Christian and conservative non-profit groups.
✓ The refusal and failure to protect the Benghazi mission.
✓ Fast and Furious. BATF agents implicated in arming Mexican drug cartel; innocent parties killed by these weapons.
✓ Illegal surveillance by DOJ of Associated Press, CBS and Fox News journalists.
✓ U.S. Attorney General Holder was the first in his post to be held in contempt of Congress and he committed perjury
✓ HHS Secretary Sebelius implicated demanding cash from parties subject to regulation. "Pay to play."
✓ USDA Pigford Scandal. Billions of dollars payouts for false discrimination claims to women and minorities.
✓ Department of Veteran Affairs' scandal from financial irregularities and misappropriation of resources; allowing dead veteran's bodies to rot in morgue
✓ Solyndra and green business scandal. Administration gave subsidies to businesses amid kickbacks, and the majority went bankrupt.
✓ Executive usurpation of Congress. Obama: "I'll pass my own laws!"
✓ Obamcare administration violated the statute authorizing it.
✓ Intimidation of Chief Justice Roberts into writing favorable opinion legitimizing the Affordable Care Act
✓ Reprisal and firings directed against whistle-blowers and Inspector Generals that exposed corruption in the administration.
✓ Influence peddling and corruption in immigration and customs handing out work visas to donors and bribe-payers.

I was saving the best for last, and left out Aiding of radical Islamists destabilizing Libya and Syria; presidential covert action led to a cascading series of events that gave rise to ISIS.

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