IRS: Obama's Brown Shirt Brigade

Mounting evidence that the Obama Administration enlisted the strong arm of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to bully and intimidate its political enemies may be the scandal that lingers, threatening to neuter the president as his second term begins.

The chilling revelations about IRS harassment of conservative groups have awakened a nation that mostly ignored the administration's scandalous behavior in the Benghazi embassy attack.  What makes this different is that the IRS is universally loathed and feared by average Americans.

Taxpayers take notice when the IRS makes headlines for singling out groups and individuals for coercion and persecution.  They have nightmares about being the next victim.

That's why the administration's handling of the embarrassing IRS disclosures has taken center stage in the arena of public opinion. While IRS officials have fumbled every opportunity to defuse public angst, Obama has lamely claimed ignorance in what has become a familiar excuse for this president.

Obama must have a sign on his desk in the Oval Office that reads: The Buck Never Stops Here.

Americans are supposed to believe that low level officials in the federal government write their own rules, pursue their own agenda, mete out punishment as they see fit.  At least that is what Obama expects Americans to conclude.

Obama and his puppets in the media have attempted to paint a picture of the president as innocent bystander while the supposedly independent IRS did the dirty work for his reelection campaign.  This characterization leaves the president looking clueless at best or incompetent at worse.

As more people in the Obama Administration became aware of the effort to target conservatives, did no one think to advise the president?  Why not?  Did the president never ask about the very public accusations more than a year ago as accounts circulated that the IRS was snooping into the tax exempt status of Tea Party organizations?  If not, was the president tacitly sanctioning the misuse of power?

The president clumsily "fired" two IRS executives, hoping the appearance of action would pacify the critics.  This is a president accustomed to spectacle over substance, supported by a media that routinely accuses Republicans of fomenting revolution to overthrow Obama.

Obama and his handlers have failed to grasp the deep animus Americans have for those who limit the exercise of free speech.  The IRS scandal is about what happens when an administration and the Democrat Party demonize and seek to destroy those who oppose its political agenda.    

Slipshod management is one thing, but politicizing the IRS is a grave matter.  The articles of impeachment against former President Richard Nixon included the misuse of taxpayer information for political purposes. Nixon was rightly held accountable for the actions of the IRS.

It may be time to start thinking of launching impeachment proceedings against Barrack Obama.