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| FILE - This May 9, 2013 file photo shows President Barack Obama walking from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington to board Marine One. President Barack Obama seemed to lose control of his second-term agenda even before he was sworn in, when a school massacre led him to catapult gun control to the fore. Now, as he tries to pivot from a stinging defeat on that issue and push forward on others, the president finds himself rocked by multiple controversies that are demoralizing his allies, emboldening his political foes -- and posing huge distractions. |
WASHINGTON
(AP) -- President Barack Obama seemed to lose control of his second-term
agenda even before he was sworn in, when a school massacre led him to
lift gun control to the fore. Now, as he tries to pivot from a stinging
defeat on that issue and push forward on others, the president finds
himself rocked by multiple controversies that are demoralizing his
allies, emboldening his political foes and posing huge distractions for
all.
It's unclear how long he will be dogged
by inquiries into last year's deadly attack in Libya, the IRS targeting
of tea party groups and now the seizure of Associated Press phone
records in a leak investigation. But if nothing else, these episodes
give new confidence and swagger to Republicans who were discouraged by
Obama's re-election and their inability to block tax hikes as part of
the Jan. 1 "fiscal cliff" deal.
Taken
together, these matters will make it harder for the administration to
focus on its priorities - racking up a few more accomplishments before
next year's national elections.
"It's a
torrential downpour, and it's happening at the worst possible time,
because the window is closing" on opportunities to accomplish things
before the 2014 campaigns, said Matt Bennett, who worked in the Clinton
White House. From here on, he said, "it's going to be very, very
difficult."
So far, there's no evidence that
Obama knew about - let alone was involved in - the government actions in
question. But a president usually is held accountable for his
administration's actions, and Republicans now have material to fuel
accusations and congressional hearings that they hope will embarrass
him, erode his credibility and bolster their argument that his
government is overreaching. Even some of his Democratic allies are
publicly expressing dismay at the AP phone records seizure.
Obama
advisers on Tuesday cast the trio of controversies as matters that
flare up in an institution as complex as the U.S. government, and they
questioned the impact of them. The one exception, advisers said, was the
brewing scandal at the Internal Revenue Service, which they see as the
issue most likely to strike a chord with Americans.
The
IRS has apologized for what it calls "inappropriate" targeting of
conservative political groups, including tea party affiliates, that were
seeking tax-exempt status in recent years. Attorney General Eric Holder
said Tuesday he had ordered a Justice Department investigation.
But
he distanced himself from the decision to subpoena the AP records,
saying he'd had no part in it, stepping aside because he had been
interviewed in a government investigation into who provided information
for a news story that disclosed details of a CIA operation in Yemen.
The
press case sparked bipartisan outcry, with several GOP and Democratic
officials questioning Holder's department's actions in the matter.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said the attorney
general should resign over the issue, adding: "Freedom of the press is
an essential right in a free society."
Connecticut
Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, both Democrats, called on
the Justice Department to explain the records seizure. And Rep. Steny
Hoyer of Maryland, the House's second-ranking Democratic leader, said,
"This is activity that should not have happened and must be checked from
happening again."
As the press and IRS issues
boiled over Tuesday, many conservative activists stayed focused on the
attack last September in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans,
including Ambassador Christopher Stevens. Republicans have spent the
past eight months accusing the Obama administration of ignoring security
needs before the attack, and of revising subsequent "talking points" to
play down the role of Islamic terrorists in the assault, which occurred
at the height of Obama's re-election campaign.
Hillary
Rodham Clinton - the secretary of state at the time, and a possible
presidential candidate in 2016 - is the target of many GOP accusations.
Despite
the noisy controversies, White House advisers tamped down suggestions
that Obama would make any sudden moves, such as firing top officials or
shaking up his team. Aides said they want more details from an inspector
general report on IRS actions before deciding how to proceed on that
issue.
On all three matters, the White House
Tuesday steered blame to other administration agencies. The disputed
Benghazi talking points, advisers said, were chiefly the CIA's work. In
discussing the IRS controversy, the White House has emphasized the
agency's independent status. And Obama's spokesman has deflected all
questions about AP phone records to the Justice Department, saying that
the president and his aides didn't know about the case until they read
press reports Monday.
Asked why Obama couldn't
simply ask the attorney general about the Justice Department subpoenas,
Carney said, "A great deal prevents the president from doing that. It
would be wholly inappropriate for the president to involve himself in a
criminal investigation that ... involves leaks of information from the
administration."
The White House also tried to
change the narrative on Benghazi. Carney accused congressional
Republicans of giving a misleading description of an email from top
Obama aide Ben Rhodes in order to make it look like the White House was
supportive of efforts to downplay the prospect that the Benghazi attack
was an act of terror.
"They decided to
fabricate portions of an email and make up portions of an email in order
to fit a political narrative," Carney said.
White
House officials said Obama plans to press his second-term agenda as
planned, but the contentious issues are complicating that effort. Amid
new revelations about Benghazi and the IRS, Obama's attempts last Friday
to highlight the implementation of key components of the health care
law - his first term's signature accomplishment - were largely ignored.
Republican
consultant John Feehery says the IRS and Benghazi controversies
undercut the president's argument for increasing the government's role
in health care and almost everything else. They undermine the notion, he
said, "that government is trustworthy and can fix problems."
However,
the biggest item now before Congress - whether to rewrite the nation's
immigration laws and provide a pathway to citizenship for millions of
people here illegally - may be barely touched by the hubbub. Many
Republican leaders say the GOP must embrace immigration revisions to
improve the party's weak standing with Hispanic voters, a fast-growing
constituency. Denying Obama a victory on immigration, they say, could do
even more damage to Republicans.
On other
issues, including the never-ending partisan dispute over deficit
spending, the White House's preoccupation with potential scandals may
give Republicans a greater sense of confidence and support.
The
claim of an IRS bias against conservative groups is what worries
Democrats like Bennett most. The White House counsel's office was
alerted about the inspector general investigation into the IRS on April
22, but did not inform the president, officials said.
Steve
McMahon, a Democratic strategist, said Republicans will try to use
investigations into the IRS actions, Benghazi and possibly the AP phone
records "to run out the clock on the president's second term."
"The
political risk of running endless congressional investigations is
relatively minimal compared to the risk of opposing immigration reform,
gun control and some of the other issues that have broad bipartisan
support," McMahon said.
