Between Republicans and Democrats, who's intimidating who?

I don’t consider myself a very political person.

I’m very cautious of engaging in any kind of political discussion with people outside my immediate family, but there’s nothing that irks me more than Republicans playing the blame game.

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been hearing a lot about how the IRS has been accused of targeting conservative groups for scrutiny, especially those they thought to be affiliated with the Tea Party.

Given the current climate in American politics, this gives the GOP even more fuel for their self-righteous fire, along with the ongoing investigation of the Benghazi attacks and the Department of Justice’s recent and “unprecedented” seizure of phone records of Associated Press journalists.

But during the May 19 episode of Meet the Press, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that the IRS controversy amounted to evidence of a “culture of intimidation” by the Obama administration.

First of all, McConnell admitted he had no evidence to support the claim that the targeting of conservative groups was ordered by the White House on-air to David Gregory. If there is nothing to back up these accusations, why bother saying anything in the first place? It’s common sense that unless you have all the facts, pointing your finger at your opponents (especially political ones) will get you nowhere.

Secondly, where did this whole “culture of intimidation” thing come from?

Do you mean to tell me that the GOP’s effort to have Obama impeached for his alleged (and unproven) role in these scandals is not intimidation? What about the political right’s crusade against the LGBT community and immigration reform, all in the name of preserving American liberty?

There are many kinds of intimidation that we have seen a lot of politicians on all sides commit in order to pursue their own political agendas, but the only thing intimidating about the Obama administration is its determination to get a country already marred by financial instability and high tensions with Russia, Iran and North Korea (not to mention the most politically divided Congress this nation has ever seen) back on track.

So it doesn’t do any good to say that Obama is the sole perpetrator of America’s problems, because both sides are equally at fault.

Yes, Obama is far from perfect, but the man is just trying to do his job and bring those responsible for their actions in these scandals to justice.

­— tjollo@indiana.edu