Watergate: Are we there yet?

By Suzanne Garment – Bearing in mind the all-purpose scandal caveat — the other shoe may always drop — it looks like what we have in the news is three distinct scandals, each emblematic of a different American political phenomenon.

The Associated Press scandal is the outgrowth of a perennial postwar (we’re talking World War Two) struggle between the press and the national security apparatus. The Internal Revenue Service scandal is a sign of a massive incoherence in the way the country regulates its non-profit groups. And the Benghazi scandal is — well, we’ll see. more> http://tinyurl.com/cq88uqh

Related>

• What the IRS should be scrutinizing, Robert Kuttner, Reuters
• President tries to win back press, Amie Parnes, Hill
• IRS scandal: First head rolls, Peter Schroeder and Bernie Becker, Hill
• White House releases Benghazi emails, Justin Sink and Ian Swanson, Hill
• An Onset of Woes Raises Questions on Obama Vision, Peter Baker, NYTimes.com

Sour on Europe

By Robert Kahn – Today’s (May 15) Eurozone GDP numbers remind us that Europe remains in a grinding recession; a second-half recovery now looks to be a long shot at best.  The only bright spot comes elsewhere, with news of  a German labor deal that will raise engineering wages by nearly 6 percent over the next 20 months (rebalancing European demand and stimulating German consumption needs more of this).

Notably, the need for jobs dominates other issues on the economic agenda. The mood is particularly bleak in the periphery, reflecting those countries’ economic troubles. more> http://tinyurl.com/bsglppy

Related>

• Eurozone now in its longest recession, Graeme Wearden, guardian.co.uk
• What the euro has meant, Economist
• Europe’s irrelevant austerity debate, Daniel Gros, europeanvoice.com

Will Obama suffer the ‘second-term curse’?

By Karen Tumulty and Philip Rucker – Recent events suggest that the 44th president may not be immune to the phenomenon that historians call the “second-term curse.”

Not four months after his ambitious inaugural address, President Obama finds himself struggling to move his legislative agenda through an unbudging Congress.

Over the past week, two flaring controversies — one over his administration’s handling of the killing of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans in Libya, the other over Internal Revenue Service employees targeting tea party groups for special scrutiny — have dominated the discussion in Washington. more> http://tinyurl.com/cobll6x

Related>

• Justice Department secretly seized AP reporters’ phone records, Brendan Sasso and Jordy Yager, Hill
• White House: ‘No knowledge’ of AP phone record seizure, Justin Sink, Hill
• Political storm bursts over IRS, Bernie Becker, Hill
• Obama dismisses GOP Benghazi probe as political ‘sideshow’, Julian Pecquet, Hill
• GOP defies Boehner on special Benghazi panel, Molly K. Hooper, Hill
• The IRS: Big Government gone bad, Chris Chaney, Hill
• Ways and Means sets hearing on IRS, Peter Schroeder, Hill
• Analysis: Controversies give Obama new governing headaches, Fred Barbash, Reuters
• White House strategy for winning immigration fight comes with some risks, Amie Parnes, Hill
• Fighting the gun world, Alan Brinkley, Reuters
• GOP: ObamaCare compliance burden nears 190 million hours, Sam Baker, Hill
• McConnell borrows Obama tactics for 2014, Alexandra Jaffe, Hill

IRS abuses power in targeting tea party

By Michael Macleod-Ball and Gabe Rottman – The extraordinary revelation this week that the Internal Revenue Service targeted tea party groups for more aggressive enforcement highlights exactly why caution is needed in any response to the much-vilified Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC (pdf).

It also shows how all Americans, from the most liberal to the most conservative, should closely guard their First Amendment rights, and why giving the government too much power to limit political speech will inevitably result in selective enforcement against unpopular groups. more> http://tinyurl.com/bsgo2we

Related>

• Wonkbook: The good reasons for the IRS’s dumb mistake, Ezra Klein and Evan Soltas, Washington Post

Immigration bill gains momentum

By Alexander Bolton – The Senate’s Gang of Eight fended off a slew of poison-pill amendments aimed at the immigration reform bill, building momentum for the legislation that has sparked strong opposition from conservatives.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted down GOP-sponsored amendments to delay putting 11 million illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship and to dramatically increase the number of Border Patrol agents and surveillance vehicles. more> http://tinyurl.com/cbtopyp

Related>

• If immigration reform fails, the GOP may be doomed, Joe Gandelman, Week
• Senate panel vote signals Republican support for immigration reform, Alexander Bolton, Hill
• Let Immigration Judges be judges, Dana Leigh Marks, Hill
• To Grow, The U.S. Economy Needs More Low-Skilled Immigrant Workers, David Bier, Forbes