Watergate to Jobsgate

As the Nixon White House covered up the Watergate activities for as long as they could, so seems the Obama White House to be bent on repeating history. The activity that initiated the story might be quite different, but the cover up activities seem quite similar. I don't believe it will result in a President Obama resignation, but credibility is being brought into question. Even as the Hawaii legislature considers, "Measure Would Allow Hawaii to Ignore Repeated Requests for Obama's Birth Certificate", the Obama folks are mum on charges that possibly involve the commission of a felony by one or more people. The American Spectator says:

There can be no other reason for Gibbs to be fending off Jake Tapper or Major Garrett, for Robert Bauer and Gibbs both to ignore Congressman Issa, or for Andrew Romanoff to stonewall Denver's Peter Boyles -- the list is growing - than one.

That one reason?

At a minimum someone inside the Obama White House has screwed up and embarrassed the president.

Or, that somebody or more than one somebody -- a somebody or somebodies of note  -- has or have in fact committed a federal crime in the President's name.

In the article, Specter Opens Door on White House Felonies, By Jeffrey Lord on 3.16.10 @ 6:09AM, the soap opera is laid out concerning the questioning and non-answering of and from the White House. Robert Gibbs, a master at talking in circles for days at a time in hopes that a new hot topic will wash away the item he wishes not to discuss is in full form here.

Perhaps lesson number one here for Gibbs and his colleagues  as the unraveling of Jobsgate proceeds is never to "Zieglerize." Never, ever, look the American people in the eye and stonewall. The results are never -- ever -- good.

It is a lesson that Robert Gibbs has at least five times in 18 days demonstrated he is willing to ignore.

Credibility at the Justice Department may get a bit tarnished if the quest for information continues. The story goes on to say:

One former high-ranking Justice Department official, after telling me that there were indeed problems with the Department's silence on this issue, said that in the current political climate at the Holder-run Justice Department, any Justice official who sought to go to Holder with thoughts of investigating Messina or his boss Rahm Emanuel or anyone else in the White House would have to have "brass balls." A colorful way of saying that Justice Department officials are being intimidated from pursuing the truth, no matter where it leads.

Congressman Issa is quoted as saying:

"Right now, they're doing the 'I won't confirm or deny,' and for us, it leaves two possibilities. One is the promise of transparency in this administration is just shot. The second one is even worse, which is either Sestak is lying or the administration has done something wrong and is covering it up…" -- U.S. Congressman Darrell Issa on Friday on March 12, 2010

Plausible deny-ability may work for a time, but as President Nixon learned the hard way, covering up isn't the same thing. This administration has not appeared to choose to learn from history in the past and this go around seems little different. Read the article and ask yourself if this is more of the same or something serious enough to garner attention. Sadly, both options are more true than many would care to admit.