Over the past few weeks, President Barack Obama has had to deal with many controversies. These include the Benghazi, the Internal Revenue Service, the Associated Press and the “Umbrella-gate” scandals.
However, only the AP scandal has actually revealed harmful actions taken by the Obama administration. Deputy Attorney General James Cole signed off on the collection of emails and phone records from the AP and Fox News, threatening the essence of the freedom of the press.
The other three scandals were concocted merely to benefit Republicans.
The most controversial is the IRS scandal, in which it was discovered that the IRS placed extra scrutiny on groups with conservative keywords, such as Tea Party, in their reclassification applications. What the media have failed to realize, however, is that it is the job of the IRS to vet applications to become a 501(c)(4) organization, groups associated with the “social welfare” of society that are tax-exempt.
These Tea Party groups should not have had this status, and yet none of them were denied after the scrutiny. In fact, there was at least one progressive group that was denied 501(c)(4) status. This supposed “discrimination” is justified by the fact that 85 percent of campaign spending at the time was from conservative groups, along with an incredible influx of applications coming from conservative organizations.
The Benghazi scandal involves the accusation against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that she was personally responsible for the deaths of four Americans last year at the Libyan embassy. Republicans have tampered with emails to attempt to prove this point, attacking a politically popular potential 2016 candidate, but their lies are as clear as day.
Finally, the Umbrella-gate controversy involves Obama asking a soldier to hold an umbrella for him during a speech, a common practice that Democratic and Republican presidents have performed.
Republicans have attempted to attack the president for a vast array of “scandals,” but the AP controversy is the only real dilemma. Moreover, their constant attacks did not harm Obama’s popularity; his approval rose, as did Republicans’ disapproval rates. Let us see what Republicans can conjure up next.
