President Obama’s ‘phony scandals’ comment targeted by critics
With his job-approval numbers plummeting, President Obama is trying to reclaim the advantage in Washington by convincing the public that congressional Republicans are obsessed with “phony” scandals such as Benghazi and the Internal Revenue Service at the expense of economic progress.
His new tour of speeches began at Knox College and the opening has ruffled the feathers of his critics.
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“But with this endless parade of distractions and political posturing and phony scandals, Washington has taken its eye off the ball. And I am here to say this needs to stop. (Applause.) This needs to stop.”
Obama’s job-approval rating has fallen to 41 percent, down from 50 percent in the same survey in April. It was his worst showing in the poll since he hit 39 percent in September 2011.
“He [Mr. Obama] can’t just keep turning to the economy as a convenient excuse to stop talking about stuff that he doesn’t want to talk about,” Republican strategist John Feehery. “The more he tries to do it, the less credible he is. I think he’s turned to the economy about 14 different times.”
In two speeches on the economy this week, Mr. Obama has lamented that lawmakers are engaged in partisan sideshows while he’s trying to focus on middle-class priorities.
“With an endless distraction of political posturing and phony scandals and Lord knows what, Washington keeps taking its eye off the ball. And that needs to stop,” Obama said Thursday in Jacksonville, Fla.
The headlines have been full of scandal which date back before the election: AP phone scandal, NSA surveillance, the IRS scandal and the Benghazi hearings.
“So whether you want to go Fast and Furious, Benghazi, IRS, NSA, Obamacare … people have begun to lose trust in the institutions of government. And if they want to use the word phony for that, they need to get out of Washington more and go to real America!” said Rep. Trey Gowdy, South Carolina Republican, on Fox News Channel.
“This is all about September,” said Democratic strategist Jim Manley. “They’re trying to reframe the debate, downplay what was an obvious attempt by Republicans to keep these so-called scandals front and center, because they have no other agenda, while the White House continues to focus on jobs and the economy.”
Manley is referring to the continuing resolution, the vote on continuing the borrowing and spending at the federal level. This has long been attacked by the GOP, with renewed efforts to defund Obamacare.
