Opinion
Obama’s Troubles Are No ‘Watergate’
“Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now”
B ERNIE F OSTER
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The Skanner Newspaper, established
in October 1975, is a weekly publica-
tion, published each Wednesday by
IMM Publications Inc.,
T
he Obama administration
deserves to be richly criti-
cized for surreptitiously
obtaining the telephone records of
reporters for the Associated Press,
especially for bypassing court pro-
ceedings that would have allowed
executives of the news organiza-
tions an opportunity to at least
argue against releasing the docu-
ments.
It was also wrong to single out
conservative organizations for
special IRS scrutiny. In case you
haven’t noticed, the names of
practically all Black professional
organizations begin with the word
“National.” That’s because most
organizations bearing the name
“American” – such as the Ameri-
can Bar Association and the
American Dental Association –
are professional groups that once
barred Blacks from membership.
That’s why we had to start our
“National” organizations. If it’s
okay to target conservative groups
today, there is nothing to prevent a
future president or IRS commis-
sioner
from
targeting
organizations with the word
“National” in their name.
Still, the actions of some Obama
administration officials should not
be compared to Watergate, as was
the case on last Sunday’s talk
shows.
To refresh your recollection, as
many of the Watergate witnesses
would say, Watergate is a refer-
ence to a series of scandals that
began with the June 17, 1972
break-in at the Democratic
National Committee headquarters
at the Watergate office complex in
415 N. Killingsworth St.,
T HE C URRY
R EPORT
George E.
Curry
Washington, D.C. and ended with
President Richard M. Nixon
resigning on August 9, 1974 rather
than face certain impeachment.
The five men arrested in connec-
tion with the Watergate burglary
were linked to Nixon’s Committee
for the Re-Election of the Presi-
dent. It was later revealed that
Nixon had recorded many conver-
sations in the Oval Office that
Nixon’s successor, Gerald R. Ford,
pardoned Nixon, the only U.S.
president to resign from office.
Unlike Nixon, President Obama
said – and there’s been no evi-
dence presented to contradict him
– that he didn’t know about the
IRS impropriety until after it had
been disclosed in a report by the
Treasury Department’s inspector
general.
Obama said, “I have now had
the opportunity to review the
Treasury Department watchdog’s
report on its investigation of IRS
personnel who improperly target-
ed conservative groups applying
for tax-exempt status. And the
report’s findings are intolerable
and inexcusable. The federal gov-
ernment must conduct itself in a
way that’s worthy of the public’s
There has been no evidence that
Obama himself ordered or knew
about the actions
showed that he had knowledge
about what his Press Secretary
Ron Ziegler labeled “a third-rate
burglary” and had attempted to
cover-up his involvement. Nixon’s
fought to keep the tapes private,
but the Supreme Court unani-
mously ruled that he had to turn
them over to government investi-
gators.
Nixon resigned in disgrace and
43 people, including his top White
House aides, were sent to prison.
trust, and that’s especially true for
the IRS.”
Instead of noting the distinction
between Nixon’s role in Watergate
and Obama’s non-role in the latest
scandals, CBS’ Face The Nation
host Bob Schieffer told Obama
adviser Dan Pfeiffe on Sunday,
“You know, I don’t want to com-
pare this in any way to Watergate.
I do not think this is Watergate by
any stretch…but I have to tell you
that is exactly the approach that
the Nixon administration took.
They said, ‘These are all second-
rate things, we don’t have time for
this, we have to devote our time to
the people’s business.’ You’re tak-
ing exactly the same line that they
did.”
Schieffer, who covered Water-
gate for CBS, should know better.
And so should Peggy Noonan, a
former White House speechwriter
for Ronald Reagan and George
H.W. Bush.
On NBC’s Meet The Press,
Peggy Noonan defended her May
17 Wall Street Journal column in
which she claimed that we “are in
the midst of the worst Washington
scandal since Watergate.” When
host David Gregory pressed her,
Noonan said, “This IRS thing is
something I’ve never seen in my
lifetime.”
But the Boston Globe noted last
Friday, “As startling as the reports
have been in recent days – from
the IRS targeting of conservative
groups to the Justice Department
seizing phone records of the Asso-
ciated Press – one Nixonian
element so far is missing: There
has been no evidence that Obama
himself ordered or knew about the
actions.”
John Dean, White House coun-
sel
during
the
Nixon
administration, told the newspa-
per, “I find the comparison – that
whoever is making the analysis is
challenged in their understanding
of history. There are no compar-
isons.”
Read the rest online at
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Student Loan Debt is a Barrier to Education
A
fter receiving comments
from nearly 30,000 Ameri-
cans urging Washington to
find the will and way to resolve
the nation’s burgeoning student
loan debt, the Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau convened a
public forum on May 8 in Miami.
In opening remarks to the gather-
ing, Richard Cordray, CFPB
Director spoke of the risk this tril-
lion dollar debt is to the economy
as well as his proposals for finan-
cial relief.
“Identifying emerging risks to
consumers and our economy is an
important part of our mission”
said Cordray. “So we are con-
cerned that unmanageable student
loan debt may be harmful to
recovering consumer markets and
may be dragging down borrowers’
lives. In February, we asked the
public how student debt is affect-
ing individual consumers as well
as the broader economy. . . The
response was overwhelming.”
Convened during National
Teacher Appreciation Week, edu-
cators were among those that
earlier told the CFPB of the risks
imposed by heavy student loan
indebtedness and the specific ills
wrought by private student loans
that typically come with higher
interest rates and little if any room
for flexible repayments or refi-
nancing.
For the American Federation of
Teachers (AFT), with 3,000 affili-
ates nationwide that represent 1.5
Page 4 The Portland Skanner May 22, 2013
R ESPONSIBLE
L ENDING
Charlene
Crowell
million members, Randi Wein-
garten, spoke to how broad an
impact this issue really is.
“At the AFT”, remarked Wein-
garten, AFT president, “we have
not a form of financial aid any
more than a credit card is when
used to cover college expenses,
but private loans are treated much
more harshly in bankruptcy than
credit card debt.”
In Miami, Director Cordray
proposed three solutions to the
growing financial concern, each
offering a different approach for
consumers at different stages of
financial stress.
For borrowers who have man-
aged to make their monthly
payments on high-interest private
Private student loans typically come
with higher interest rates and little if
any room for flexible repayments or
refinancing
heard from many of our members,
students and parents about the dif-
ficulties they face financing their
educations. They come from all
walks of life and from across a
range of life circumstances and
they are all ages. While each has
his or her own unique story, a
common theme prevails – for far
too many Americans, higher edu-
cation is no longer affordable.”
Addressing private student
loans, Lauren Asher, president of
the Institute for College Access &
Success said, “Private loans are
student loans, Cordray proposed a
“refi relief” option. This approach
would enable responsible borrow-
ers to refinance their debt at
market interest rates, thereby
reducing the monthly loan repay-
ments.
A second option termed “road to
recovery” would help borrowers
who are delinquent on private
loans. By adding incentives for
lenders to work with borrowers
feeling trapped in debt, Cordray
advocates a transparent, step-by-
step process with affordable
monthly payments tied to a rea-
sonable debt-to-income ratio.
The third option proposed,
“credit clean slate” would be
designed to help defaulted bor-
rowers with severely damaged
credit. Critical to this proposal
would be the ability to limit nega-
tive credit effects of default and
reasonable repayment.
These three initiatives represent
an addition to a recent rule from
the CFPB that enables the Bureau
to monitor servicers that engage in
unfair or deceptive acts or prac-
tices toward student loan
borrowers. Working in conjunc-
tion with the U.S. Justice
Department, the Bureau will also
hold accountable those who vio-
late the rights of military
personnel.
For the CFPB, widespread and
growing ills of student loan debt
are reminiscent of what happened
with the housing crisis.
“Consumers were trapped in
exotic mortgages with few
options” said Cordray, “and the
repercussions were felt throughout
the economy. We learned a hard
lesson in the wake of the mortgage
meltdown. We cannot just sit by
and watch this happen to people
again.”
Charlene Crowell is a communi-
cations manager with the Center
for Responsible Lending. She can
be reached at: Charlene.crow-
ell@responsiblelending.org.