Is Obama Heading Towards Nixon? Experts Weigh In

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Kate Nagle, GoLocalWorcester News Contributor

Will President Obama face the same fate of President Nixon in light of current controversy? Worcester political experts weigh in.

With the current controversies surrounding President Obama, including the disclosure by the IRS it targeted conservative groups, the Justice Department's seizure of Associated Press phone records, and the continued investigation into the Administration's response to the deadly attacks in Benghazi last year, GoLocal reached out to local and national political experts to get their views on the ramifications of the situation at hand. Is President Obama heading towards the same fate as President Nixon?

Donald Brand, Professor and Political Science Department Chair, Holy Cross

"These are significant scandals facing the President. In particular, the IRS situation is most damaging. Both Republicans and Democrats agree that using the IRS to target political groups is unacceptable. President Nixon used the IRS to target political enemies, so this resonates in particularly bad ways.

The President says he wants to get to the bottom of each of the situations, and wants to get answers, so we'll see if he's able to do so. However, how he responded to the Benghazi situation has begun raising more questions. The issue appeared initially political, and contained to opposition from conservatives, but now with the appearance that statements were scrubbed to remove any references to terrorism after the fact, we're not exactly what we're getting from the Administration, and if it's the truth.

The AP scenario, on the other hand, he's defending, saying it's within the government's legal powers to seek out confidential leaks. The question is whether the dragnet has been too broad, and whether there's since been a "chilling effect." The press is clearly concerned here.

All together, these things can amount to "death by a hundred cuts," to the President, so to speak. Again, the Benghazi scandal hasn't been handled by the White House well. Details were slow to emerge, and while it was once viewed as a "Fox" issue among conservatives, it's spreading. It's reminiscent of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, with the cover-up.

This won't be the scale of Nixon, but it will be politically damaging. Second term Presidents generally can be lame ducks, and the outcome of all of this could prove to render [the President] more ineffective. If you're adversarial with the press, and not forthcoming with information, and can be very detrimental to your credibility, and how you're covered."

David Schaefer, Professor, Holy Cross

"This is all Nixonian in the sense that the Obama administration has been the most partisan administration...since Nixon.

The President has showed an extreme sense of self-righteousness that has spread through the ranks of his party. Regarding the IRS scandal, we don't know how high up it goes in the organization. However, the President has created an atmosphere where rank-and-file employees could well believe that such activity as targeting opposition political groups would actually be met with approval from political superiors.

The President has been saying the IRS is not under his jurisdiction, is not the federal government. That's not true at all of course, it's a branch of government agencies that's headed by a cabinet secretary.

What this all brings to mind, in historical context, his how JFK handled the Bay of Pigs scandal. He had the opportunity to disavow involvement, and place all the blame on Eisenhower, saying plans were in place before he took office, which could have been plausible, but he turned down the opportunity to duck responsibility.

There's a parallel here between the President saying the IRS is an independent agency, instead of acknowledging responsibility.

The cover up with Benghazi though has been the most damning. They knew the [anti-Muslim] YouTube video excuse for the violence was never the case, but they went with it anyway.

This won't end up being Nixonian though, I don't see there being an impeachment."

Professor Mark Miller, Director of Clark University Law & Society Program

"All presidents have difficulties in their second terms. It is much too early to know whether any of the current potential problems within the Obama Administration are in any way serious. They certainly don’t rise to the level of the Iran-Contra Scandal during the second term of the Reagan Administration, for example. The opposition party will always try to make these issues a bigger deal than they really are.

Since there is no way the Republicans can get any of their policy proposals approved by the Democratic Senate, the only thing left to the Republicans is to hope that the president makes a major mistake which they can then exploit for the 2014 midterm elections.

All of the current potential missteps from the Obama Administration and the press coverage of them are just symptoms of the current gridlock in Washington and the focus on the 2014 elections. The only thing the opposition party can do in this situation is try to create a potential scandal where done probably exists in reality."