So I went on Facebook this morning and I had a compelling drive to write this out. I've been thinking of these events over the past couple months and the recent news regarding Clinton's private email service and Obama being unaware of it made me sit down and want to share my thoughts with everyone here. Below is what I posted on Facebook earlier today.
Is it just me, or does it seem like our President 'supposedly' gets most of his news from outside news sources? There are numerous instances where he has used the excuse about not knowing anything, but I will only list the most glaring and controversial events.
Air Force One Flyover of New York City:
In April 2009, I personally got too see this event first hand as I was in NYC on a school field trip. Air Force One flew low over New York City as part of a photo op. Local officials were not told about this event, and it led to some public panic, given the events of 9/11. The whole flight looked very strange because a huge plane was flying formation with an Air Force Fighter Jet. It was almost like the plane was being escorted to land due to an in air incident. When asked about the flyover, Obama stated "It was a mistake, as was -- as was stated. It was something we found out about along with all of you and it will not happen again." How did Obama not know air Force One was on an exercise or photo op? Its simply impossible he was not told in advance Air Force One was to be unavailable during that time frame. Or where Air Force One would be located.
Fast and the Furious:
In December 2010, U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed by gunfire from weapons the ATF allowed into Mexico. The ATF originally hoped to let these weapons into Mexico and subsequently trace them to drug cartels. The investigation was handled so poorly that most of these weapons simply vanished and ended up killing numerous Mexican citizens, Mexican Police Officers, and Agent Brain Terry. In a 2011 interview Obama was quoted as saying: "I heard on the news about this story that Fast and Furious, where allegedly guns were being run into Mexico and ATF knew about it but didn't apprehend those who had sent it". If this operation was truly started by the Bush Administration, then why did the Obama Administration not have better oversight for this operation, or cancel it entirely? This failed Operation could have been a powder keg had the news media accurately reported on the event instead of trying to cover it up.
IRS Targeting of Conservative Groups:
In 2013, IRS Official Lois Lerner stated that the IRS had been targeting conservative groups. When these groups would apply for tax exempt status, the IRS gave them increased scrutiny and did their best to draw out the time length of the approval process. When asked about this incident Obama responded "I first learned about it from the same news reports that I think most people learned about this,". Perhaps Obama truly didn't know about this incident, but then who did? Who in the IRS or higher up U.S. Government, ordered the intentional targeting of conservative organizations applying for tax exempt status? This is almost the similar to the Watergate incident. Which was a huge setback of this country, and it tarnished our image of a Democracy. Targeting someone using an abuse of power like what the IRS did isn't explicitly illegal, but it can open up Civil Lawsuits.
VA Wait Time Scandal:
In 2014, media reports began surfacing that dozens of veterans died while awaiting care at a Phoenix VA facility. Veterans were placed on secret waiting lists and some higher ups were supposedly given bonuses because of the small amounts of treatments being performed and patients. Obama claims he had no knowledge of these events whatsoever. But in late 2008, during Obama's wait to assume the Presidency, Veterans Affairs officials warned Obama and Biden that they shouldn’t trust the wait times that its facilities were reporting.
Hilary Clinton Personal E-mails:
We just learned recently that while acting as then Secretary of State, Clinton was using her own personal email service and not an official government email. She used this email to conduct confidential government business and it was her primary account. Obama stated that he heard about this "The same time as everybody else, through news reports.". Now I would like to think that an immense level of safeguards and security was used to secure and encrypt Clinton's emails. And using a private, high security email service should be up to the individual as long as its a highly reputable setup and protective measures are in place. But how could Obama not have known this? Her email address would not have ended with .gov therefore giving it away that it was an unofficial email source. Clinton and Obama exchanged emails on a regular basis so why did no one in the Obama Administration (or any Government Official for that matter) not realize or care that she was using a private email to conduct Official Government business?
So my real question to all of this is, what does our President actually know? Or has he known about certain instances prior to them becoming a breaking news story (some credible evidence exists to support his administration knew about the growing VA problem), but simply does nothing to address the problem. Essentially playing dumb and hoping the problem goes away on its own. I expect more from this President because it is his duty to lead our country and take responsibility. He has used the "I didn't know" excuse far too many times. Even if he truly did not know, don't you think its his job to take it upon himself to ask questions and find out what is really going on?