| Politics The White House Field Guide to Scandal How the trio of Obama scandals could save immigration reform and the welfare state. By David Weigel
Posted Tuesday, May 14, 2013, at 11:26 PM ET  If you find yourself panicking about the thick cloud of scandal snaking around the Obama administration, don't. Sen. John McCain has good news for you. "When Iran–Contra was going on, President Reagan was still able to work with Congress," said McCain to Capitol Hill reporters today. "Legislation was passed, et cetera." That scandal captivated Washington and the world, and "everyone thought that it would damage President Reagan, but it didn't." There, isn't that soothing? Three stories, doing varying amounts of damage, may only add up to the same Richter scale score as the story that nearly destroyed the Reagan presidency. The invincible Republican investigation of Benghazi, the IRS's early admission that it hassled Tea Party groups, two U.S. attorneys' snooping into Associated Press phone records—it's all being rolled together into a grand narrative of presidential crisis. In his weekly chat with reporters, Democratic House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer confused the IRS story and the AP story, answering one with his talking points for the other. He apologized. Then he did it again. That, obviously, is not the way to handle this. Yes, the overall impression of crisis is affecting the mood of Congress. Many pundits are resurrecting the musty meme of the "Second Term Curse," but that's a little easy—any government in power gets weaker as it gets older. A better term is "Omnishambles," a situation that looks "shambolic from every possible angle," because the individual angles actually matter here ... To continue reading, click here.
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