Corruption inside the Obama administration runs rampant. The list of scandals grows longer by the moment, with a new one popping up at an ever-increasing rate. However, the Republican leadership empowers the corruption by refusing to fight. They fear Obama and are resigned to waiting for the buzzer instead of stopping the madness.
This week we learned of three more corpses resulting from Obama's operation Fast and Furious. This is the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms program that encouraged the smuggling of illegal guns to the drug lords and gangs of Mexico. The resulting bloodshed has been goolish.
Next we saw emails from the White House in the Solyndra scandal, and the extemporaneous record shows corruption. Rep Cliff Stearns of Florida declared at a hearing this week, "The review process took a back seat to the need to set up a photo-op for the vice president and other administration officials."
Solyndra is a politically connected solar energy firm that received more than half a billion dollars in federal loan guarantees. Now the firm is bankrupt. It is one of a string of firms that Obama touted as an engine of "green jobs."
The White House emails show that the Obama administration rushed to get money to the firm based on politics, not job creation. No wonder the stimulus plan didn't stimulate job growth; the money was diverted to the pockets of Obama's political cronies.
Now he's at it again with his new stimulus plan he's trying to push down Congress' throat. This new scheme takes more money from working citizens who could help get the economy moving again with the freedom to create jobs or spend it, thus spurring job creation. But no, Obama is only looking out for those who solidly vote for him and will then have more money to pour into his re-election coffers.
Now the Daily Beast is reporting, "The four-star Air Force general who oversees Air Force Space Command walked into a highly secured room on Capitol Hill a week ago to give a classified briefing to lawmakers and staff, and dropped a surprise. Pressed by members, Gen. William Shelton said the White House tried to pressure him to change his testimony to make it more favorable to a company tied to a large Democratic donor."
The donor is Philip Falcone and the company is his new wireless satellite broadband company, LightSquared. The Democratic donor was sure to profit from the altered testimony to Congress.
Any of these scandals would have taken down Republican administrations. But Obama shoulders on without being touched by investigations. This is the direct result of a strategy poorly concocted by the leadership of the Republicans in Congress because they fear Obama. It results in bad policy that is prolonging the weak economy as the Republicans compromise on policy and fail to provide adequate Congressional oversight of the Federal Government.
The strategy, which is only voiced behind closed doors, goes something like this: "Our polling shows that the American people want us working with the President. If we are too aggressive in our investigations of the administration, then people might get the idea we aren't team players."
Their strategy is akin to the four corners strategy in basketball. Before the days of shot clocks, teams were known to just keep passing the ball from corner to corner in the hopes that they wouldn't make a mistake and time would run out.
The Republicans see that Obama is wounded, and they fear that if they do anything, then they might make a mistake and give his administration a shot at re-election. Why? The Republicans lack confidence in their ideas and are afraid to engage.
But the strategy has the potential to backfire. Voters who are frustrated by what they see in Washington could declare a pox on both their houses. Today Americans feel our leaders are fiddling like Emperor Nero while the country literally burns.
Photos of the Republican leader John Boehner enjoying a game of golf with the president while the average citizens fears losing his job and his house leaves middleclass voters with resentful attitudes.
Another year of Boehner hugging Biden on TV and then empowering the president to raise the debt ceiling at his whim and the Tea Party could turn into a full scale revolt against not just the Democrats, but all the so called leaders in Washington.
©2011 Floyd and Mary Beth Brown. The Browns are bestselling authors and speakers. To comment on this column, e-mail browns@caglecartoons.com. Together they write a national weekly column distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate. Floyd is also president of the Western Center for Journalism. For more info call Cari Dawson Bartley at 800 696 7561 or e-mail cari@cagle.com.
Floyd's latest book is "Killing Wealth, Freeing Wealth," from WND Books. Time magazine wrote of Floyd: "Brown has stature among devoted conservatives that almost matches his physical heft (6 ft. 6 in. and 240 lbs.)" See more at Floyd's blog at floydreports.com.