While much of Washington was riveted Friday on a Republican-led congressional hearing into abuse of power by the IRS, President Obama traveled to Baltimore to promote a jobs plan and decry lawmakers for "chasing every fleeting issue."
If you're a president under fire, it's convenient to fire someone who's about to leave anyway. The president on Wednesday threw acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller under the hot dog wagon, or whatever convenient cliche was waiting at the curb.
Welcome to Whopper of the Week: Damage Control edition.
The Obama administration found itself facing a series of scandals and it was revealed that the federal government gave witness protection to terrorists. On the international stage, the Russians sent more than a dozen warships to aid the Assad regime in Syria. Here's a recap, or wrap, on the week that was from The Washington Times.
With journalists now justifiably fearful that the federal government could examine their telephone logs and dig up other information, support is growing in Congress for a measure to help reporters keep their sources confidential.
Standing in a drizzle that seemed to define his bad week, President Obama called on Congress on Thursday to boost security at U.S. embassies around the globe, seeking to deflect the issue onto lawmakers as the controversy simmers over the deadly terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, in September.
President Obama's election was a hopeful moment for civil rights advocates who thought he would usher in a golden era of government openness and respect for civil liberties, but some of the president's most enthusiastic supporters have expressed the harshest condemnation this week as revelations of multiple controversies involving intrusive government overreach have exploded onto the national stage.
The Justice Department put its contempt for the First Amendment on full display with its snooping on journalists at The Associated Press. It's a display of contempt for freedom of the press equaled only by the administration's disdain for freedom of speech, another of the essential First Amendment protections.
Two of President Obama's second-term personnel picks that have attracted conservative and business opposition moved a step closer to confirmation Thursday.
