Obama’s Fake Scandals Versus Obama’s Real Scandals

This week, the Obama administration has seen three “scandals” being pushed:  IRS targeting conservative groups, Benghazi, and the DOJ seizure of Associated Press phone records.  But as Erza Klein of The Washington Post points out, there doesn’t seem to be much real meat to these “scandals”.  Low level staffers are behind the IRS thing (and the real problem is that there is a 501(c)(4) tax exemption in the first place), the Benghazi thing is all about spin, and the AP phone record seizure is probably legal (though I think there is a little more to this one as it relates to an abuse of power).  Whether the Obama administration had any direct connection to any of these is really a question.

However, as Conor Friedersdorf from The Atlantic has pointed out, there are real genuine transgressions by the Obama administration that probably should be scandals.  Not prosecuting crimes of torture, committing troops to Libya without so much as consulting Congress, order the assassination of an American citizen, gone after whistleblowers like no other administration before it, carried out the awful drone program that has killed hundreds of children, signed into law the power to hold people indefinitely (proving Obama has no idea of why the prison in Guantanamo Bay needs to be closed),…….

It can go on and on.  But since Obama is not getting heat for any of that (and frankly, he’s not going to), is it good that he is at least getting grief over something?  Anything?  At least the media seems to be subjecting the administration to more scrutiny, even if right now they are asking the wrong questions.

I Don’t Get Why……

• I don’t get why people chanted “USA, USA, USA,….” when that Boston Marathon bomber was captured.  Ending World War II was reason to celebrate.  Landing on the moon was an amazing accomplishment.  But capturing a single snot-nosed brat teenager was not a national achievement.  In fact, to shut down a whole city as large as Boston to find this kid only for that to NOT work seemed more like a low point to me.
• Speaking of that, I don’t get why people think blowing up innocent people will help them achieve their goal.  Of course first and foremost you have the evil of the action.  But even putting that aside, it takes absolutely no skill to take unarmed people by surprise and do harm to them.  So you are not going to impress anyone.  You are just going to make people mad.  And mad people don’t change their mind.  If anything, they are going to double down.  Just so stupid on any and every level.
• I don’t get why we don’t either expand background checks or get rid of them altogether.  Why does it make sense to require background checks for some gun sales but not for others?  Either these checks are a good idea or they are not.  It doesn’t make a bit of sense to require it for just some of the sales.
• I don’t get why some politicians can argue that cutting military spending will cost jobs while they also argue that cutting non-military spending is necessary to save jobs and not realize the contradiction of the two arguments.  If jobs can be generated building tanks we don’t need, then certainly they could be generated by spending on things we do need like bridges, health care, etc.  In fact, some say such non-military spending generates even more jobs than military spending.
• I don’t get why it is still so darn cold!  It’s freakin’ May!  I should be able to go for run and be certain I will be wearing shorts now!
• I don’t get why people are so obsessed with Tim Tebow (both those who love and those who hate him).  He’s not getting a raw deal.  He’s just not a very good professional quarterback.  I mean, if nothing else, you would think by now it’s pretty darn clear the NFL doesn’t care about anyone’s values one way or the other if you can play.  The fact that the Canadian Football League team that has his rights has said he would be fighting for a backup job if he chooses to sign should tell you everything you need to know about his QB skills at this point.

Can anyone explain this to me?