Blame It On Obama

English: Cropped version of File:Official portrait of Barack Obama.jpg. The image was cropped at a 3:4 portrait ratio, it was slightly sharpened and the contrast and colors were auto-adjusted in photoshop. This crop, in contrast to the original image, centers the image on Obama's face and also removes the flag that takes away the focus from the portrait subject. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ever since Barack Obama was elected President in 2008, conservatives have loathed his every move as much as liberals did when George W. Bush was in the White House.  It's become almost their default position when things go wrong in their lives.

Lost your job?  Blame it on Obama.  Your wife or girlfriend has left you?  Blame it on Obama.  Got a speeding ticket?  Blame Obama.  Hit your thumb with a hammer, your favorite TV show gets canceled, computer crashes, car won't start, losing your hair, gained a few pounds, burned your dinner, kids got tattoos, neighbor's dog unloads on your yard, etc?  Blame it on Obama.

Now, in all seriousness, some issues have come up that might not look good on Obama's record by the time he leaves office.  In fact, no matter what side of the aisle you fall on, you might say they make the President look downright Nixonian.

• Benghazi  The attack on the U.S. embassy in Libya killed four Americans, which the administration later determined was the work of terrorists.  Republicans aren't convinced, accusing the President and his aides of covering up certain details of the attack to make himself and the future presidential chances of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton look good.  The White House's response?  It's either the President quoting Gertrude Stein ("There's no there there"), or spokesman Jay Carney claiming the event happened a long time ago.  Uh, that was on September 11, 2012.  Eight months ago.
• IRS Targets Tea Party  The agency that has the power to fine and audit you if you don't pay your taxes is also the same one that, allegedly, scrutinized mostly conservative political organizations for tax-exempt status a little too closely.  For that, the President fired the acting IRS commissioner, and claims to be just as angry about it as everyone else.  Angry that they got caught, maybe?
• Feds vs. AP  It seems the Obama administration doesn't trust the news media, unless they can be used for its own purposes.  The Justice Department seized phone records of reporters and editors of the Associated Press for some kind of criminal investigation, which they have yet to elaborate on.  The AP sees it as payback for a series of reports they did on a foiled terror plot last year, and have complained to Attorney General Eric Holder about it.  This leads to all kinds of conflicts between national security and the First Amendment, but is there a way this could have been handled better?

President Obama won a second term with a slight mandate last November.  But we know what happens to Presidents who thought they could do anything they wanted, just because they won by a considerable margin over the other guy.  It's happened to Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.  Once you lose the public's trust, it's very difficult to get it back.  Because there really are some things you can blame Obama for.