Obama Not Embarrassed by His Scandals?
When  Barack Obama  spoke at the 12th annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston  MA  many of us scratched our heads as to why the event was off-the-record. No photography  recording  or social media posting about Obamaâs appearance was allowed. Obviously  he would not be talking about golf. But  with over 3 500 people in attendance  there was no way this speech would be hidden for long. As expected  a recording of Obamaâs appearance was leaked.
 Obama  said a lot of things over the course of an hour  but Iâd like to focus on  his  claim that  while some people in  his  administration made mistakes  âWe didn't have a scandal that embarrassed us.â This was not the first time  Obama  claimed  his  administration was devoid of scandal. Before leaving office  he  claimed  his  administration was "probably" the first âin modern history that hasnât had a major scandal in the White House.â Others in  his  administration have echoed this âscandal-freeâ narrative like a coordinated chorus hoping  after repeating it often enough  the people would believe it was true. The sad thing is  many people do believe it.
Obamaâs claims always come with a subtle caveat.  His  administration didnât have âa scandal that embarrassed us â or they didnât have âa major scandal.â But  my favorite nuance from  his  super-secret appearance in Boston was when  he  said  "Generally speaking  you didn't hear about a lot of drama inside our White House."  He âs right about that point. As I document in my forthcoming book  The Scandalous Presidency of Barack Obama  there were over two dozen scandals over the course of Obamaâs presidency  and they were all downplayed or ignored by the mainstream media.
Soon after  Obama  was elected  his presidential transition got caught up in a scandal surrounding the attempted illegal âsaleâ of his former Senate seat by former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich  who wanted to profit from what he called âa [expletive] valuable thing.â  Obama  denied having any involvement in discussions about who might be appointed to replace him  yet he had a wish list of replacements that even included his advisor Valerie Jarrettâwhom Blagojevich was willing to nominate in exchange for his being appointed to Obamaâs cabinet.
 Obama  also met with Blagojevich to discuss his Senate seat in a meeting about which a local CBS affiliate published two stories  only to remove both off their website after the scandal broke. This scandal could have undone the  Obama  presidency before it even started  but after  Obamaâs  historic victory  that was the last thing the media would do  a trend that would continue throughout his presidency.
The media protected  Obama  from criticism and controversy as aggressively as the Secret Service protected him from danger. But that doesnât change the fact that Obamaâs presidency was the most scandalous in history.  Obama  may not be embarrassed by Fast and Furious  Benghazi  the IRS scandal  the VA scandal  Solyndra  the OPM hacking scandal  the GSA scandal  the Iran Ransom scandal  Uranium One  or the FISA abuse scandal currently being unraveled  but he should be. And the media should be embarrassed at how they failed the American public by pretending these scandals didnât exist  or werenât important.
 Obama  has now been out of office for more than a year and weâre still learning dirty details about his presidency. In December of last year  Politico published the bombshell report about how the  Obama  administration stonewalled an investigation of an international drug-trafficking operation of the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah in order to protect his nuclear deal with Iran. The media outright ignored the story. ABC  CBS  and NBC considered this scandal unworthy of coverage. The Mueller investigation has exposed more about how politicized the Department of Justice became under  Obama  than it has exposed any collusion between Donald Trump and the Russians  not that the media has taken any interest in that.
Despite a presidency more corrupt than Richard Nixon  many in the media had the gall to claim  upon Obamaâs leaving office  he had a âscandal-free presidency.â Paul Blumenthal claimed at The Huffington Post that while scandal âhas consumed the final four years of every two-term president in modern history [â¦] Barack Obamaâs administration is the exception.â David Brooks wrote in the New York Times  â Obama  administration has been remarkably scandal-free.â Such laughable claims have persisted  and many on the left still make and believe this claim. Back in September  liberal CNN commentator Bakari Sellers described  Obama  as âeight years scandal-free.â Trust me  there are many more shameful examples. So  when  Obama  says  "Generally speaking  you didn't hear about a lot of drama inside our White House â  he  wants us to believe that if the media didnât report on it then it didnât happen.
When the media refuses to give us the full knowledge of the character and conduct of our rulers  we get  Barack Obama  for eight long years. The media presented  Obama  as a successful  scandal-free presidentâa massive cover-up unprecedented in the history of modern journalismâand this amounts to an abdication of their duty to the American people to tell us the truth. We expect the free press to serve as an important check on the government. Their failure to do so with  Obama  is  his  golden ticket to historical greatness and  he  clearly recognizes this and is using it to  his  advantage.
John Adams once wrote  "Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people  who have a right [...] to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge  I mean  of the characters and conduct of their rulers." The media denied us the knowledge of  Obamaâs  character and conduct and will continue to do so. If we donât shine the light on the facts of  Obama  and  his  presidency now  the myth of a âscandal-freeâ  Obama  administration will be written as fact for the history books.
When   [TGT] spoke at the 12th annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston  MA  many of us scratched our heads as to why the event was off-the-record. No photography  recording  or social media posting about Obamaâs appearance was allowed. Obviously  he would not be talking about golf. But  with over 3 500 people in attendance  there was no way this speech would be hidden for long. As expected  a recording of Obamaâs appearance was leaked.
  [TGT] said a lot of things over the course of an hour  but Iâd like to focus on  his  claim that  while some people in  his  administration made mistakes  âWe didn't have a scandal that embarrassed us.â This was not the first time   [TGT] claimed   [TGT]   administration was devoid of scandal. Before leaving office  he  claimed  his  administration was "probably" the first âin modern history that hasnât had a major scandal in the White House.â Others in  his  administration have echoed this âscandal-freeâ narrative like a coordinated chorus hoping  after repeating it often enough  the people would believe it was true. The sad thing is  many people do believe it.
Obamaâs claims always come with a subtle caveat.  His  administration didnât have âa scandal that embarrassed us â or they didnât have âa major scandal.â But  my favorite nuance from  his  super-secret appearance in Boston was when  he  said  "Generally speaking  you didn't hear about a lot of drama inside our White House."  He âs right about that point. As I document in my forthcoming book  The Scandalous Presidency of Barack Obama  there were over two dozen scandals over the course of Obamaâs presidency  and they were all downplayed or ignored by the mainstream media.
Soon after  Obama  was elected  his presidential transition got caught up in a scandal surrounding the attempted illegal âsaleâ of his former Senate seat by former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich  who wanted to profit from what he called âa [expletive] valuable thing.â  Obama  denied having any involvement in discussions about who might be appointed to replace him  yet he had a wish list of replacements that even included his advisor Valerie Jarrettâwhom Blagojevich was willing to nominate in exchange for his being appointed to Obamaâs cabinet.
 Obama  also met with Blagojevich to discuss his Senate seat in a meeting about which a local CBS affiliate published two stories  only to remove both off their website after the scandal broke. This scandal could have undone the  Obama  presidency before it even started  but after  Obamaâs  historic victory  that was the last thing the media would do  a trend that would continue throughout his presidency.
The media protected  Obama  from criticism and controversy as aggressively as the Secret Service protected him from danger. But that doesnât change the fact that Obamaâs presidency was the most scandalous in history.  Obama  may not be embarrassed by Fast and Furious  Benghazi  the IRS scandal  the VA scandal  Solyndra  the OPM hacking scandal  the GSA scandal  the Iran Ransom scandal  Uranium One  or the FISA abuse scandal currently being unraveled  but he should be. And the media should be embarrassed at how they failed the American public by pretending these scandals didnât exist  or werenât important.
 Obama  has now been out of office for more than a year and weâre still learning dirty details about his presidency. In December of last year  Politico published the bombshell report about how the  Obama  administration stonewalled an investigation of an international drug-trafficking operation of the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah in order to protect his nuclear deal with Iran. The media outright ignored the story. ABC  CBS  and NBC considered this scandal unworthy of coverage. The Mueller investigation has exposed more about how politicized the Department of Justice became under  Obama  than it has exposed any collusion between Donald Trump and the Russians  not that the media has taken any interest in that.
Despite a presidency more corrupt than Richard Nixon  many in the media had the gall to claim  upon Obamaâs leaving office  he had a âscandal-free presidency.â Paul Blumenthal claimed at The Huffington Post that while scandal âhas consumed the final four years of every two-term president in modern history [â¦]  [TGT]  is the exception.â David Brooks wrote in the New York Times  â Obama   [TGT]  has been remarkably scandal-free.â Such laughable claims have persisted  and many on the left still make and believe this claim. Back in September  liberal CNN commentator Bakari Sellers described  Obama  as âeight years scandal-free.â Trust me  there are many more shameful examples. So  when  Obama  says  "Generally speaking  you didn't hear about a lot of drama inside our White House â  he  wants us to believe that if the media didnât report on it then it didnât happen.
When the media refuses to give us the full knowledge of the character and conduct of our rulers  we get  Barack Obama  for eight long years. The media presented  Obama  as a successful  scandal-free presidentâa massive cover-up unprecedented in the history of modern journalismâand this amounts to an abdication of their duty to the American people to tell us the truth. We expect the free press to serve as an important check on the government. Their failure to do so with  Obama  is  his  golden ticket to historical greatness and  he  clearly recognizes this and is using it to  his  advantage.
John Adams once wrote  "Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people  who have a right [...] to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge  I mean  of the characters and conduct of their rulers." The media denied us the knowledge of  Obamaâs  character and conduct and will continue to do so. If we donât shine the light on the facts of  Obama  and  his  presidency now  the myth of a âscandal-freeâ  Obama  administration will be written as fact for the history books.