Clueless Government?

President Obama has had a tough couple of weeks dealing with three major controversies.  In light of the controversies, I find the response by the American people to be disturbing.  The first controversy concerns the terrorist attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The US House of Representatives Oversight Committee began hearings on May 8^th. The Oversight Committee is investigating the actions (or inactions) of the White House and State Department before, during, and after the attacks, which resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including the US Ambassador to Libya. Some charge that US officials misled the country about the attack, while others state that Obama or Secretary Clinton were not aware that the attack was anything more than a violent protest over an anti-Islamic Youtube video.

The second controversy involves the IRS.  On May 10^th, IRS officials admitted that among organizations applying for non-profit status they targeted conservative groups for special scrutiny.  The Department of Justice and the FBI are currently investigating the IRS.  The people involved, including White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, insist Obama knew nothing about the IRS scrutiny.

The third controversy concerns phone records.  The Department of Justice secretly obtained two months of Associated Press reporters’ telephone records.  The US Attorney General, Eric Holder, has declared before a congressional committee that he didn’t know the specifics concerning the phone records.  The intent of obtaining the phone records was to identify how news organizations get their information.

If the statements coming from the White House, State Department, and Justice Department are to be believed, then the implication is the President and his appointees are clueless about what is going on within the Executive Branch.

In the midst of these controversies, there has been a ray of sunshine for the President.  A CNN/ORC International survey, released on May 20^th, reveals that 58% of those polled believe Obama is a strong and decisive leader and 52% believe he can manage the government effectively. Yes, you read that correctly.

After reading this, I wondered if the American public is so accustomed to politicians failing to live up to campaign rhetoric and dodging responsibility that our expectations are so low as to believe that Obama is doing a good(enough) job.  Or, are they completely in the dark about the activities of the government?

In either case, there is something we can do.  In the first place, we should demand more from our elected officials.  Our elected federal officials, before taking office, swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies and to faithfully discharge the duties of the office they are about to enter.  We should expect them to conduct themselves in a moral and ethical manner whether or not we are paying attention. 

And the elected officials should not use their office for personal gain.  That includes using privileged information to target groups and obtain personal records.  There are policies and procedures and violating those measures that protect our personal freedoms should not be tolerated.  If there is just cause, there are procedures to follow.  When these officials don’t execute their responsibilities or they engage in misconduct, we simply should not re-elect them.   At a minimum, we should call them on the carpet. 

 In the case of the President, the executive power of the United States is vested in him.  Being responsible and informed, not clueless, is part of the President’s job.  If the executive branch is too big to effectively manage, then perhaps a reduction is size is warranted.  When communication cannot flow effectively to/from the President, then he must make corrections.  President Obama said, “If people are paying attention, then we get good government and good leadership. And when we get lazy, as a democracy and civically start taking shortcuts, then it results in bad government and politics. “ He’s right.  With all of the technologies that exist today to transfer information, there are no excuses.

If We, the People, remain ambivalent, uninformed, and misinformed about what happens in Washington, or City Hall, then we should get used to ineffective government and crooked politicians.  In order to fix the government, then we need to fix ourselves.  We do that by becoming more informed, less misinformed, and more intellectually honest about the issues.  If we end up with bad government, we have no one to blame but ourselves.