As the Obama's myriad scandals continue to expand in both severity and number, the Nixon comparison has taken root. We have an embattled White House, enemies lists, a crippled, directionless administration, and a President who seems incapable of repairing the damage done to his already weakened credibility. Unfortunately, that's where the comparison ends. Obama doesn't have Nixon's sense of dignity - so he won't resign - and he isn't faced with any legitimate threat of impeachment.
Obama's not going anywhere.
Yet, the GOP membership is focusing all of its investigatory power on his administration. In particular, most congressional Republicans seem to view the IRS scandal as a way to target the Obama White House. Their zeal is admirable, but misguided. Not only will an Obama-centric approach fail, it misses the larger point. The IRS scandal isn't really about Obama - it's about government.
Yes, the President is complicit. Of course he is. No sane person can look at the last month of scandals and believe the company line. If you honestly think Obama "learned about all of this in the papers," you've got a screw loose.
He deserves to be removed from office, or forced to resign in disgrace. It just isn't going to happen.
Even if it did, the real problem wouldn't have been solved. There are thousands of statists out there who believe exactly what Obama believes. They despise the Constitution, they hate the concept of a truly limited government, and they will not hesitate to violate the law if it means an expansion of federal power. These people exist on both sides of the aisle and, once Obama is gone, another such creature would simply step up to take his place.
So, conservatives need to force the GOP to refocus.
Recent polling shows that 68% of Americans believe the federal government is out of control and represents an imminent threat to their civil liberties. Heck, even David Axelrod admits that the bureaucracy has grown so large that it can no longer be controlled. The IRS scandal is the clearest, most glaring example of big government's worst-case scenario in action.
This is the fight Republicans need to be having.
Americans are watching as their government morphs into exactly the kind of tyrannical beast we all know it can become. Yet, the GOP just can't get past the banal idea that its only recourse is to go after the opposition President. Obama, as his title suggests, presides. He's a temporary issue. The problem he represents will abide long after he's gone.
The last few weeks have shown us how far we've fallen, but they've also provided us with a rallying point.
It's time to go to war for a fair tax or flat tax, coupled with a massive reduction in IRS scope and power. It's time to rein in the organization that - God help us - will soon be enforcing the new health care laws. Heck - it's time to go "pie in the sky" and fight for a repeal of the 16th Amendment. We may not get everything we want but, at some point, we've got to start trying.
Some conservatives - namely the usual suspects like Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Mike Lee - get this. It's time to drag the rest of the party - kicking and screaming if necessary - to the same conclusion.
