White House Corruption: Ominous Timing?

We have been hearing more and more lately, about what many pundits are calling the “Chicago Style Politics” being carried out by the White House. This is not anything new. We have seen this stuff practically from day one of the current Administration. Back room deals, heavy-handed tactics, bullying, threats (veiled and not so veiled) seem to come to light almost daily any more. There are calls for investigations on a monthly basis for some new outrage or other. We have even heard calls for the President’s impeachment on a few occasions. Not much ever happens as a result and the whole process has become “politics as usual”. The term “Chicago Style Politics” is rapidly losing any distinction from “Washington Politics”.

One important reason why very little action is taken to follow up on calls for investigations, or even on impeachment for that matter, is the obvious fact that, at present, they would represent a waste of time. Congress and the Senate are controlled by substantial majorities of the Presidents own Party which means any investigation would face being diverted, delayed and lost in committees. Even if they ever got to the point where any action might be taken, there just there simply not be enough votes to pass anything.

That all might be changing soon. If the polls are any kind of a prediction, then we are going to see the Democrats lose their substantial majority in the Congress and Senate and may even wind up as the minority Party after the November “mid-term” elections. All these allegations about deals being made or offered by the White House staff start to take on new interest and may prove to be ominously timed for the President. In a Congress controlled by the Republicans, those investigations could begin to take form and would have the ability to use the power of Congressional subpoenas to bring details to light.

The President, whom we have already seen is perfectly willing to throw his friends and supporters “under the bus” in order to keep himself separated from their misdeeds or statements, would begin seeing his staff and cabinet members start disappearing. If any direct knowledge of any of these “deals” (i.e., offering Congressman Sestak a job if he would drop out of the race against Senator Specter) can be traced back to Mr. Obama, then calls for his impeachment may become far more foreboding to him.

An American public who had grown tired of “Washington Politics” swept President Obama into office. His message of “Hope and Change” gave us, and the entire world for that matter, real hope for change. His actions and his arrogant and almost emotionless attitude (once interrupted as “coolness under fire” by his supporters) have resulted in his dramatic drop in the polls. Never have we seen such a wildly popular President swing from “savior” to “demon” in just 18 short months. When he was elected a year and a half ago, he was being compared to Abraham Lincoln, now they regularly compare him to Jimmy Carter. In November of 2008, any criticism of Barack Obama almost instantly brought on cries of racism. That particular accusation is almost never heard any more, although criticism of the President is a daily (almost hourly) occurrence these days.

At this moment the idea of actually impeaching President Obama is still a somewhat distant concept, something only his most ardent opponents even hint at. The timing of all these “Chicago Style” deals combined with a loss of patience in his mishandling of the Oil Spill crisis and the soon to be exposed weakening of our National Defense posture by his signing of the new START treaty with Russia, and the anger of his failure to protect the homeland from these terrorist attacks, could change all that over night. 2011 may very well prove to be an ominous year for the President’s political future.

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