We have heard the phrase “phony scandals” applied this summer to several important developments in President Obama‘s administration. Obama would now love to place in this category even the IRS scandal, in which Lois Lerner‘s division of that agency targeted and harassed conservative non-profit groups. Last summer, Obama had called that scandal “inexcusable” and forced the head of the IRS to resign. How times change.

This scandal, though without the fatal consequences that attended the mismanagement of the Veterans Administration, is nevertheless egregious and telling about the nature of the executive over which Obama presides. It escalated significantly last month as evidence of a bureaucratic cover-up mounted. It bears watching, and it deserves a truly independent investigation.