How to save Obama’s second term
Despite the rancour over scandals, big reforms are still possible
PRESIDENTS often have no choice but to react to events. When a giant tornado struck a suburb of Oklahoma City on May 20th, Barack Obama declared a disaster and ordered the federal authorities to help search for survivors. As emergency workers pulled children from the rubble, the mudslinging in Washington, DC, paused. But only for a moment. Mr Obama is still beset by scandals. Republicans berate his administration for a “cover-up” after terrorists murdered diplomats in Benghazi; for snooping on journalists; and for letting the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) hound conservatives.
Not all these scandals are real. In Libya the administration failed to anticipate an attack or to protect its staff: a tragic failure, but not a crime. Spin-doctors tied themselves in knots to avoid saying anything that might hurt the president’s re-election campaign, but that is what spin-doctors do. The snooping scandal is murkier, and seems to have involved an abuse of power. But the IRS scandal is unambiguously outrageous.
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline "How to save Obama’s second term"
From the May 25th 2013 edition
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