Under mounting pressure, President Barack Obama on May 15 released a trove of documents related to the Benghazi attack and forced out the top official at the Internal Revenue Service following revelations that the agency targeted conservative political groups. “Americans have a right to be angry about it, and I am angry about it,” Obama said of the IRS actions. “I will not tolerate this kind of behavior at any agency, but especially at the IRS given the power that it has and the reach that it has into all of our lives.” The president said Acting IRS Commissioner, Steven Miller, had resigned and vowed that more steps would be taken to hold those responsible accountable. Obama had addressed the IRS matter on May 13. He also repeatedly asserted he was waiting to find out if the reports were accurate, even though top IRS officials had already acknowledged the controversial actions. The White House asked Congress to revive a media shield law that would protect journalists from having to reveal information, a step seen as a response to the Justice Department’s widely criticized subpoenas of phone records from reporters and editors at The Associated Press. Adding to narrative of a passive president were White House efforts to distance Obama from the IRS scandal, as well as the revelations that the Justice Department had secretly obtained work and personal phone records of journalists. “If Obama really learned about the latest IRS and AP secret subpoena scandals in the news, who exactly is running the ship at the White House?” said Republican National Committee spokesman Kirsten Kukowski. The White House has publicly defended its handling of the controversies. Obama spokesman Jay Carney has insisted it would be “wholly inappropriate” for the president, in the case of the Justice Department matter, to weigh in on an active investigation, and in the case of the IRS controversy, to insert himself in the actions of an independent agency. David Axelrod, Obama’s longtime adviser, acknowledged the White House could have acted more aggressively and said in defense of Obama: “One virtue he has is that he takes a long-range view,” he said. “It’s easy to get whipped up by the frenzy, but it’s responsible to react to the facts. It has short-term liabilities, but in the long-run, it’s a quality you want in a president.”
Writer: AP
