Rep. Darrell Issa, a key GOP oversight official and President Obama’s chief congressional tormentor, has a surprising message for the “everybody does it” defense of Obama’s job dangling: If Bush did it, it was illegal then, too.
“It’s ironic and hypocritical for this administration to point to what former Bush administration officials are saying in an effort to exonerate their Chicago-style tactics. I didn’t realize that the Obama White House considered the Bush White House as such an exemplary standard of ethical conduct,” Issa said in a written statement.
In a memo issued by White House counsel Bob Bauer, the administration defended its job offers to Democrats Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania and Andrew Romanoff of Colorado in part by noting “reported instances in the past when prior administrations – both Democratic and Republican, and motivated by the same goals – discussed alternative paths to service for qualified individuals also considering campaigns for public office.”
While Issa ridicules Obama, he spares his spite for the former Bush administration officials that are defending the president by arguing offering jobs is no big deal.
“Is at all surprising that anyone from the Bush White House would exonerate the Obama White House’s tactics when there is a real possibility they did the same thing? If they were to call what the Obama White House has done criminal or illegal, they would most likely be indicting their own actions as well,” Issa said.