Obama’s Scandals Rival His Predecessors

By Chuck Baldwin

This column is archived here.

One would be hard-pressed to select the most corrupt Presidential administration in US history. Over time, both Democrat and Republican administrations have a track record littered with all kinds of corruption, scandal, malfeasance, dishonesty, and unconstitutional conduct. Out of all of them, only two Presidents have been impeached: Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, both Democrats. Neither of them were convicted of the charges and removed from office. A third President, Republican Richard Nixon, would almost certainly have been impeached had he not resigned first.

Andrew Johnson's impeachment was doubtless the most politically-motivated impeachment of a President in US history. He was impeached by radical Republicans who were angry at Johnson's mild and temperate approach to reconstruction after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and surrender of Southern forces. Specifically, Johnson was impeached for violating the Tenure of Office Act in 1867, which forbade the President from dismissing office holders without the Senate's approval. The Act was ruled unconstitutional in 1926.

Bill Clinton's impeachment was based on four charges: grand jury perjury, civil suit perjury, obstruction of justice, and abuse of power. There seems little doubt that Clinton was guilty of the charges, but a timid GOP Senate leadership had no stomach to be the first Congress in US history to convict and remove a sitting President from office.

Charges that would have been brought against Richard Nixon had he not resigned, included illegal wiretapping, misuse of the CIA, perjury, bribery, and obstruction of justice.

However, the truth of the matter is if every President who deserved to be impeached and removed from office had been indeed impeached and removed from office, it would have included a good number of them. In my humble opinion, that list would have included Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, and G.W. Bush–and now Barack Obama.

Never mind the fact that had the media and congressional leaders objectively and thoroughly examined Obama's birth certificate, it would have been easily proven that the documents were forged and that he was totally unqualified to be President of the United States. But setting that aside, the scandals of this White House certainly rise to the level of the US Constitution's grounds for impeachment, which is "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."

Here is a list of the Obama White House scandals which is publicly known:

*The "Fast and Furious" gun-running operation, whereby federal government agencies deliberately and willfully supplied untold numbers of firearms to known Mexican drug-traffickers, which led to the death of at least one Border Patrol agent.

*Using the IRS as a political weapon against conservative groups.

Now, if one thinks that Obama invented this diabolical tool, one is sadly mistaken. Ron Paul recently noted that the IRS has been used as a strong-armed bully to harass and intimate political opponents under several Presidential administrations, including the Kennedy, Nixon, Clinton, and G.W. Bush administrations.

The Washington Times quotes Dr. Paul as saying, "'The bipartisan tradition of using the IRS as a tool to harass political opponents suggests that the problem is deeper than just a few "rogue" IRS agents–or even corruption within one, two, three or many administrations,' Dr. Paul writes in his weekly column, Texas Straight Talk. 'Instead, the problem [lies] in the extraordinary power the tax system grants the IRS.'

"The libertarian and tea party hero goes on to argue that the power of the IRS can only be countered with a complete overhaul to the country's tax system."

See the Washington Times report here:

Ron Paul: Fix IRS By Shutting It 'Once And For All'

Amen, Dr. Paul!

Barack Obama is only the latest President who is known to have used the power of the IRS as an abusive force against political opponents.

*The stand-down of military troops and cover-up of the attacks by Muslim extremists against the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

The Obama administration doesn't want the American public to know that the US was using the Benghazi annex to store and supply weapons to Syrian jihadists and that it was competing Muslim extremists who stole the arms stored there. And, of course, there is the burning question as to why American forces were ordered to stand-down and not interfere with the attack which led to the deaths of the US Ambassador and three other Americans that has not been answered.

Obviously, many US Presidents have used duplicity, deceit, and chicanery to hide the truth of US foreign entanglements from the American people in order to accomplish a personal or political agenda. Johnson did it in Vietnam; George H.W. Bush did it in Kuwait; and G.W. Bush did it in Iraq. Now Barack Obama is following suit in Libya, Syria, and elsewhere.

*Associated Press telephone records seized without a warrant.

Suddenly now, the media is alarmed to discover that their darling Barack Obama has actually turned the monster of oppressive government against THEM. Egad! As long as the federal government is only illegally spying on average-Joe American, the media is nonchalant and unconcerned. However, now that it has been discovered that the federal government is spying on the members of the media, they are enraged–well, somewhat enraged.

Hey folks! When it comes to the all-time champion of using the power of the federal government to spy on Americans, G.W. Bush, not Barack Obama, takes the blue ribbon. Everything that Obama is now using to spy on reporters and average citizens was taken from the blueprint designed by G.W. Bush. It was Bush who championed the Patriot Act; it was Bush who championed the Military Commissions Act; it was Bush who championed the Department of Homeland Security; and it was Bush (and now Obama) who championed the NDAA.

But now that the federal government has specifically targeted members of the media in its illegal spying activities, media talking-heads are aghast. Even Mr. Big Government, himself, Piers Morgan, is publicly re-thinking his rabid gun-control agenda. Morgan recently said this:

"Though I was appalled by the media's relentless and shameless push last month to pass the Toomey-Manchin bill that would have tightened background checks, I did support its passage, and said so many times while criticizing the media for their disgusting behavior. But this chilling reminder of how corrupt the federal government is has changed my mind completely."

See the report here:

Joe Scarborough, Piers Morgan: Obama Scandals Prove Gun Advocates Aren't Crazy

Now all of a sudden, anti-gun Piers Morgan says that gun-rights advocates who refuse to surrender their firearms because they distrust the federal government are NOT crazy after all. Amazing!

*Sexual assaults in the military.

This scandal received public notoriety when two military officers were discovered sexually abusing female subordinates after having been put in positions of authority assigned with the duty of PREVENTING those very crimes. Of course, Barack Obama feigned total shock and disgust at the revelation.

Noted researcher and investigative analyst, Joel Skousen, covered this story in his last World Affairs Brief. Skousen quotes Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) as saying, "We have arguably 26,000 [sexual] assaults a year, but only about 3,000 are even reported, and only a handful go to trial and result in conviction."

Of course, the problem of sexual assault in the military is not a new one. It has gradually been getting worse as Presidential administrations (from both major parties) insisted on putting women in close-quarters with men on ships, as well as in ground units. But Barack Obama has exacerbated the problem even further by putting women in combat units.

To subscribe to Joel Skousen's World Affairs Brief, go here:

World Affairs Brief

Yes, folks, Obama's campaign for change has turned out to be nothing more than business as usual. If the Obama Presidency is not the most corrupt in American history, it is surely one of the most corrupt.

Perhaps, the most honest man in recent memory to run as a major party candidate for President of the United States was Republican Congressman Ron Paul; but I guess honesty is not a qualification which most people desire anymore. So, we are left with the likes of G.W. Bush and Barack Obama. One would think that sooner or later the American people would tire of all of these scandalous shysters and want to elect an honest man. One would think.

(c) Chuck Baldwin

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