Some perspective on the recent Obama scandals, from Paul Krugman:
I picked a good week to be away — and I am still away, mostly, although playing a bit of hooky on the notebook right now. For it has been the week of OBAMA SCANDALS, nonstop.
Except it seems that there weren’t actually any scandals, just the usual confusion and low-level mistakes that happen all the time, in any administration.
Does the evaporation of the scandals matter? I don’t know. Unfortunately, I remember the early Clinton years, when ridiculous stuff — restructuring at the White House travel office, for God’s sake, and a money-losing land deal — led to years of front-page headlines, endless investigations,and nothing at all in the form of proven Clinton wrongdoing. If the press decide that scandals are going to be the topic, the absence of actual scandals may not matter.
Oh, and the ongoing disaster of economic policy? Boooring.
Which political party is touting non-existent scandals, and which one is doing nothing to address economic issues. Appears to be the same party.
Related articles
- Earl Ofari Hutchinson: Why the Public Should Yawn Over Alleged Obama Scandals (huffingtonpost.com)
Throughout the Clinton administration, the Times collaborated with ultra-right-wing forces in keeping the pot boiling in a series of largely concocted scandals, which did not lead to criminal charges but disrupted the administration politically, culminating in Clinton’s impeachment and Senate trial. The Times joined in the witch-hunt over Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky, giving a political cover to Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr, the congressional Republican leadership and a cabal of right-wing lawyers, judges and political operatives.
The scandal arguably affected the 2000 US Presidential election in two contradicting ways. Democratic Party candidate and sitting Vice President Al Gore claimed that Clinton’s scandal had been “a drag” that deflated the enthusiasm of their party’s base, effectively suppressing Democratic votes. Clinton claimed that the scandal had made Gore’s campaign too cautious, and that if Clinton had been allowed to campaign for Gore in Arkansas and New Hampshire , either state would have delivered Gore’s needed electoral votes regardless of what happened in Florida .