OBAMA AND THE IRS SCANDAL: THE LOOSELY COUPLED CONSPIRACY PRODUCES MARCHING ORDERS
How is it that President Barack Obama appears to be above all of the scandals and lacking in any degree of culpability?
To the untrained observer, Barack Obama appears to have plausible deniability when it comes to the recent scandals. That is, Obama himself, did not have to give explicit orders to achieve desired objectives. Like the military, where a commander’s wishes are interpreted as commands, Obama merely has to suggest – even in an indirect, oblique way, a course of action to have his minions take up the cause. Which is the basis for any loosely-coupled conspiracy – where there is no appearance of joint meetings or collusion, but everybody seems to know the leader’s desired objective and required results.
In many cases, Barack Obama, in the course of campaigning, has demonized certain groups, and occasionally, certain individuals. So it would be natural for Obama’s fellow travelers to pursue those organizations and individuals with whatever programs and powers they may have at their disposal.
Enter the Judas Goat, the person who leads the lambs to slaughter. It is well recognized that certain people associated with Barack Obama has a great deal of referential power. That is, there words and deeds are assumed by others to have the direction and blessing of the anointed one himself. Valarie Jarrett, David Axelrod, and a few others come to mind.
Consider, for a moment, the current IRS scandal. It appears that non-profit organizations were seen as fundraising threats to the Obama campaign and thus were demonized as being nefarious organizations, hiding their donors, and possibly engaging in nefarious acts. That might be the trigger point to convince high-level IRS officials to create specific programs and interventions to delay or deny the non-profit status of the organization – and, in some cases, dry up significant donor-funding. Certainly President Obama may not have given the orders, but he and his minions did set the tone.
Did Barack Obama commit the impeachable crime of using the IRS for political purposes à la former President Nixon?
Article 2 – Section 1 … He has, acting personally and through his subordinates and agents, endeavored to obtain from the Internal Revenue Service, in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, confidential information contained in income tax returns for purposes not authorized by law, and to cause, in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, income tax audits or other income tax investigations to be initiated or conducted in a discriminatory manner.
We do not know what we do not know …
At this point in time, we know that certain crimes have been committed by IRS officials and employees.
- Leaking confidential tax information to the media for political purposes.
- Denying or delaying non-profit tax status to certain organizations for the purposes of impeding fundraising.
- Executing selective audits of individuals based on their constitutionally protected political activities.
- Lying to Congress or Federal investigators.
- Interfering in the election process by interfering in fundraising that would allow an organization to promulgate constitutionally-protected free speech under the First Amendment.
What we don’t know are the names of key individuals involved in prohibited IRS activities. We do know a portion of the Inspector General’s report has been classified – but it remains to be seen if this information should or can be classified for the sole purpose of avoiding criminal and civil prosecution or embarrassing disclosure in the media.
We also know that the Internal Revenue Service may have carried out an internal investigation of political targeting prior to the Inspector General’s report and those who responded to Congressional inquiries may have mislead or lied to Congress, a criminal act if the person is testifying under oath and penalty of perjury.
The curious case of Lois Learner …
Lois Lerner, the IRS official who first disclosed the agency’s improper targeting of conservative groups by staging a planted question at a tax conference, appears to have screwed the pooch. While it was her Constitutional right to exert her Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination, you cannot offer testimony that proclaims your innocence and then invoke the Fifth Amendment. It is my understanding that the Fifth Amendment protects those who have a reasonable cause to believe they have committed a prosecutable criminal act – not that they simply do not want to answer questions about their activities. So while the lawyers and constitutional scholars debate whether or not Lerner waived her right to exert the Fifth Amendment, the congressional inquiry will proceed.
Since the Inspector General’s report did not reveal evidence of criminal wrongdoing, something is wrong with Lerner’s assertion of the Fifth Amendment. Either she knows potentially criminal acts were committed or she wants to avoid incriminating others with her testimony. She can’t have it both ways.
One only hopes that Darryl Issa, the Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, will not back down in pursuing the answers to benefit the American public.
Bottom line …
This scandal is in its infancy and is more likely to resonate with the informed public more than the Benghazi scandal or the Administration’s attempt to abridge the Constitutional rights of a free press. If there are any unindicted co-conspirators in the IRS scandal, surely they will reside in the mainstream media which appears to be unwilling to carry the story with the full impact given to presidential scandals when the party in power was Republican.
The old saying that a fish rots from the head down appears to be applicable in this situation.
We wait and watch.
-- steve
“Nullius in verba”-- take nobody's word for it!
"Acta non verba" -- actions not words
“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.”-- George Bernard Shaw
“Progressive, liberal, Socialist, Marxist, Democratic Socialist -- they are all COMMUNISTS.”
“The key to fighting the craziness of the progressives is to hold them responsible for their actions, not their intentions.” – OCS "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius “A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves, and traitors are not victims... but accomplices” -- George Orwell “Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt." (The people gladly believe what they wish to.) ~Julius Caesar “Describing the problem is quite different from knowing the solution. Except in politics." ~ OCS