The IRS scandal

By Richard K. Barry

There should be little doubt that the IRS targeting conservative groups is totally unacceptable. I agree with Joe Klein that those responsible should be shown the door quickly.

Whether he is right on other arguments, I'm not sure, but it's worth considering. What I do know is that whatever explanations can be provided, whatever apologies can be given, the appearance of using the government apparatus to silence political enemies could be a big problem at the ballot box, and it should be.

Joe Klein:

Yet again, we have an example of Democrats simply not managing the government properly and with discipline. This is just poisonous at a time of skepticism about the efficacy of government. And the President should know this: the absence of scandal is not the presence of competence. His unwillingness to concentrate–and I mean concentrate obsessively–on making sure that government is managed efficiently will be part of his legacy.

Previous Presidents, including great ones like Roosevelt, have used the IRS against their enemies. But I don’t think Barack Obama ever wanted to be on the same page as Richard Nixon. In this specific case, he now is.

(Cross-posted at Phantom Public.)