FOD 2013.05.20

Obama Denies Role in Government

President Obama used his weekly radio address on Saturday to reassure the American people that he has “played no role whatsoever” in the U.S. government over the past four years.

“Right now, many of you are angry at the government, and no one is angrier than I am,” he said. “Quite frankly, I am glad that I have had no involvement in such an organization.”

The President’s outrage only increased, he said, when he “recently became aware of a part of that government called the Department of Justice.”

“The more I learn about the activities of these individuals, the more certain I am that I would not want to be associated with them,” he said. “They sound like bad news.”

Mr. Obama closed his address by indicating that beginning next week he would enforce what he called a “zero tolerance policy on governing.”

“If I find that any members of my Administration have had any intimate knowledge of, or involvement in, the workings of the United States government, they will be dealt with accordingly,” he said.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, the above is a spoof article written by Andy Borowitz of the New Yorker. But it certainly rings true at times, doesn't it?

Here's one that is real, but reads like a joke.

White House Aide Calls Criticism of Obama ‘Offensive’

The remarks came from Dan Pfeiffer, a member of the president’s inner circle, as he appeared on all five major Sunday morning talk shows in an effort to move the administration past what commentators have described as a “hell week” of controversy and missteps. He pointedly rejected Republican criticisms of the president’s actions and leadership style as “offensive” and “absurd,” and he said the administration would not be distracted from doing the nation’s business.

In the same article we get some insight into how seriously the administration is taking the scandals.

...White House chief of staff, Denis R. McDonough...told The New York Times that he instructed staff not to spend more than 10 percent of their time on the three controversies.

I guess they're spending the other 90% of their time in the continuing campaignn that is the obama administration.

Finally, for what I consider a penetrating analysis of the IRS scandal, check out what Kimberley Strassel of the WSJ has to say (Hint: it's along the lines of "a fish rots from the head down").

Was the White House involved in the IRS's targeting of conservatives? No investigation needed to answer that one. Of course it was.

President Obama and Co. are in full deniability mode, noting that the IRS is an "independent" agency and that they knew nothing about its abuse. The media and Congress are sleuthing for some hint that Mr. Obama picked up the phone and sicced the tax dogs on his enemies.

But that's not how things work in post-Watergate Washington. Mr. Obama didn't need to pick up the phone. All he needed to do was exactly what he did do, in full view, for three years: Publicly suggest that conservative political groups were engaged in nefarious deeds; publicly call out by name political opponents whom he'd like to see harassed; and publicly have his party pressure the IRS to take action.

It's called leading from behind...