New York Times columnist David Brooks alleged during a recent appearance on PBS NewsHour that President Obama’s administration has been “scandal-free.”
Brooks joined syndicated columnist Mark Shields on the program Friday to discuss the alleged sexual misconduct of former speaker of the House Dennis Hastert when he served as a high school wrestling coach.
“I am struck … [by] the whole litany of people, especially of that era, who were involved in some scandal or another,” Brooks explained. “Some of it was sexual. Some of it was more financial.”
“Does politics attract such people?” the New York Times scribe wondered. “I don’t know. Or is it prevalent in society? It’s certainly a reminder of original sin. The other thing, though, I did want to say that there are people in American life to whom this has not happened.”
Brooks then served up Obama as an example of the fact that politicians are not all embroiled in scandal.
“I have my disagreements, say, with President Obama, but President Obama has run an amazingly scandal-free administration, not only he himself, but the people around him. He’s chosen people who have been pretty scandal-free,” Brooks continued.
Later. Shields agreed that “this administration in particular” has remained virtually clean of scandals throughout Obama’s time in the White House.
Evidently, both Brooks and Shields do not consider the IRS targeting of conservative groups, the Veterans Affairs’ fake waitlists, the Obamacare untruths, or ATF’s Operation Fast and Furious to be “scandals.”
As for Brooks’ assertion that Obama has chosen individuals who have proven to be “scandal-free,” one needs only to look at former secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her current twin scandals to realize the holes in his argument.
