Why would the Obama White House have invited erstwhile IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman to visit 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue 157 times during his tenure, which is far more than anyone else – including top cabinet members? Considering the claim of Obama apologists that the president couldn’t possibly know what the IRS is up to, what with the government being so large and all, it sure seems like the White House made a priority of keeping tabs on this agency’s activities.
But maybe the answer lies in the workings of the Environmental Protection Agency, which appears to have been operating like a brother from another mother of the IRS. According to a report from the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the EPA has been routinely hampering requests for information from conservative groups by imposing large fees – the same fees the EPA regularly waives for green activist groups and the friendly news media.
Sound familiar?
As news comes out that IRS targeting of conservatives was not just the work of a couple of rogue bureaucrats in Cincinnati, but was almost certainly directed by people in Washington – you don’t think this came up during any of those 157 Shulman visits to the White House, do you? – the similar revelation about the EPA makes it clear that this sort of thing was understood as a policy of the Obama Administration.
It’s the simple deployment of power, which you abuse without hesitation if your only concern is to maintain said power. The government can impose all kinds of burdens on people, while relieving others of similar burdens if that serves the political interests of those who run the government.
Hey. Why not? The Washington culture respects the shrewd deployment of power, and the Obama Administration has elevated it to a high art form. Why let those irritating Tea Party groups receive tax exemptions when you can instead use their applications to harass them? Why give information to those deplorable global warming deniers when you can milk them for the last of their cash reserves?
They’re the enemy, sillies.
The Obama Administration appeared to believe that it could do pretty much anything and the media would cover for it. Even if they pushed their luck and abused the media, surely they would not be held to account.
It’s not so much that the media are motivated to hold Obama accountable for anything, but they’re not willing to look like utter fools in the course of carrying his water. That’s the position Obama’s blatant abuse of power put them in, and going after the AP and even Fox News was simply too much for the media to take.
However we got to it, it’s justice. Obama is being called to account now for his abuse of power. But conservatives need to keep the pressure on and not assume the mainstream media will continue to do its job. No president, regardless of party, should get away with what Obama is doing and has done. Ultimately it’s up to us to shine a light on these nefarious activities and make sure Obama does not escape unscathed. Otherwise there may never truly be any limits on government in this country again.
