With time ticking down to get things done in his final term, US President Barack Obama risks suffering long-term consequences from a series of scandals that have hit the White House in recent days.
After wavering initially, the US president has launched an all-out offensive to contain fallout from the trio of controversies.
Senior Obama advisor Dan Pfeiffer, doing the rounds of weekly television talk shows yesterday, went into damage control mode on the scandals, including one related to alleged abuses by the tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service, which targeted conservative groups.
“The activity was outrageous and inexcusable, and it was stopped and it needs to be fixed so we ensure it never happens again,” Pfeiffer said on ABC’s “This Week” program.
In an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Pfeiffer addressed the administration’s agenda going forward, in an apparent attempt to shift the spotlight to whether Republicans will help move ahead on vitally important issues such as economic growth and immigration reform.
“I think we’re going to continue pushing forward with the president’s agenda to help middle class families grow the economy,” Pfeiffer said.
“I think all the events given last week the question is, are Republicans going to continue to work with the President?”
Republicans have been fiercely critical of the White House, saying the scandals are illustrative of an administration guilty of a massive abuse of power. Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell continued the drumbeat today.
“There is a culture of intimidation throughout the administration. The IRS is just the most recent example,” he said, speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press” show.
“We’re talking about an attitude the government knows best, the nanny state is here to tell us what to do and if you start criticising, you get targeted,” McConnell added.
The scandals have dogged the administration for days, giving Obama what one Washington pundit called “the worst week in Washington.”
Countering cover-up claims from Republicans in Congress about the deadly September 11, 2012, attack on the US mission in Benghazi, Libya, the White House on Wednesday released 100 pages of internal emails.