What happened to a scandal less administration?

17-Oct-2011 | By Doug Kellett, Contributing Editor

Do you remember when candidate Barack Obama promised us that he would fundamentally change the way government operated and complained about previous administration scandals? Now, it appears his four years are full of political paybacks, cronyism and scandal. It started with his connection with ACORN and corruption with the voting process and now includes illegal gun running and allegedly funneling tax payer money to a solar panel business that the President knew was in danger of bankruptcy.
What happened? Was all this "hope and change" just political branding or was the change just Obama's version of Washington's insider trading. The President rails against rich people and corporations for their sweet heart deals and provides millions of dollars to political friendly operators in the green industry community.
So much for leading us away Mr. President from "politics as usual." His administration's involvement in operation "fast and furious" is enough to raise eye brows to even the most liberal follower. If we believe news reports, the administration--at least to the Attorney General level-- knowingly provided illegal weapons to the Mexican drug cartels and gangs so as to make a negative political point about the second amendment. An operation that has lead to hundreds of innocent people in Mexico murdered along with several American border agents.
If this were the work of a republican administration, you can bet the Chris Matthew types or the Washington Post would be clamoring for justice. At least, you would hear a few democrats talking about "even the appearance of wrong doing" would force the need for a special prosecutor.
A special prosecutor to clean up a mess created by this administration. I certainly hope the young people who thought this was the guy who was going to put politics on a higher dimension are paying attention. They might see that President Obama's words are just that--words.
His constant array of words through speeches has led many to tune out this President. After an orchestrated speech before a joint session of Congress, his approval rating declined. Historically, a Presidential speech with that back drop means a ten point jump. Yet, Mr. Obama is campaigning for four additional years.
He wants four more years while suspicions of this President abound. More people now, rather than before the 2008 election, are engaged in the political outcome and are paying attention.
So, will these scandals make a different to the electorate? I certainly hope so. I'm paying attention.