Monday morning a joint press conference was held between British Prime Minister David Cameron and President Obama. The focus was supposed to be the economy, the upcoming G-8, and Syria. Instead the Benghazi attack and the IRS targeting the Tea Party dominated the press conference. While their is no direct link between the White House and the IRS scandal, some critics find it hard to believe that low-level IRS employees devised and carried out the policy on their own. Instead they say the government abused IRS authority to punish rivals.
Republicans and Democrats already have plenty of disagreements. Will this latest scandal make a difference? “I think it does change things,” The Grio.com’s Perry Bacon said on Monday’s show. “I think that’s where this could have a real impact on the rest of Obama’s agenda. The institutions themselves are not permanent issues but they could have an effect on Obama’s agenda going forward.”
These scandals, especially the IRS, could play a role in the 2014 midterm elections. As Krystal Ball pointed out these elections are all about having a base that is really energized, motivated, and enthusiastic and will show up at the polls. And between Benghazi and the IRS issue “you have a Republican base that is coalescing around something that is getting more motivated and more fired up,” Krystal Ball said.
“You already see in most midterm elections minorities and younger voters tend not to turn out in the first place so that already means sort of the Obama coalition many not be there in 2014,” Bacon said. “I think if you add Benghazi, Obamacare, and now this IRS scandal you will have Tea Party activists much more fired up than before.”
Abby Borovitz