“I am very proud of the fact that we will — knock on wood — leave this administration without significant scandal.” — President Obama at his Nov. 14 news conference.
Ah, the lie oft repeated . . .
Define scandal. Or perhaps “significant scandal.”
Well, let’s start with the IRS scandal — or is there another word for what happens when public officials in one of government’s most sensitive departments make decisions based on ideology. Let’s see, how about when any organization with the words “tea party” in its name applies for tax-exempt status? Lois Lerner, who headed the tax exempt division resigned.
But guess that’s only a “significant scandal” for those groups still waiting to hear back from the IRS.
And what about the billions of tax dollars wasted on the Healthcare.gov website that had to be completely redone?
Or the outright lies being told about waiting lists by Veterans Administration personnel and the vets who suffered as a result?
“We’ve made mistakes, there have been screw-ups,” Obama said, “but I will put the ethics of this administration and our track record in terms of just abiding by the rules and norms, and keeping trust with the American people — I will put this administration against any administration in history.”
Tell that to the family of a vet who died while on some fictitious waiting list.
And how about the Solyndra scandal — or is there a nicer word for what happened when the company lost more than $500 million in taxpayer dollars? Even the Obama-friendly Washington Post reported “Obama’s green-technology program was infused with politics at every level.”
An electric battery company that went belly up cost taxpayers another $280 million.
There was the Secret Service prostitution scandal, which caused the resignation of the head of the Secret Service. The White House intruder incident in 2014 caused yet another resignation at the top.
But our personal favorite was the scandal involving U.S. General Services Administration regional commissioner Jeffrey Neely — if only because of the unforgettable photo of Neely in a bathtub, wine glass at the ready during a $822,751 conference he organized that the GSA Inspector General called “excessive” and “wasteful.” That resulted in five firings, including Neely, and the resignation of the head of the agency.
But as Obama said, “We had a strong Ethics Office. We had people in every agency whose job it was to remind people, this is how you’re supposed to do things. It doesn’t mean everybody always did everything exactly the way it’s supposed to . . .”
No scandal here, folks. Just move along.
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