What Is Obama Hiding?

When one inspector general, Gerald Walpin, found that a political ally and basketball-playing friend of Barack Obama's, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, was abusing federal funds meant for a charity for political and personal uses, the White House shifted into its favorite mode: attack.

Not only was Walpin fired, but when he tried to alert the media to the scandal, various figures from the administration attacked him in the most personally destructive way -- all but publicly accusing him of mental illness.

Walpin has company.

Obama's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) threatened an inspector general for daring to tell Congress that the OMB was trying to slash his budget, crimping his ability to monitor spending and other actions by the OMB.

There are more victims of this type of fragging by the Obama administration toward career officials dedicated to watching out for the taxpayers.

Neil Barosfky (a lifelong Democrat, incidentally) was the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. He discovered serious flaws behind the administration's claims. He thrashed the Treasury for relying on self-reporting by recipients of TARP money. He wrote that the bailout was falling short of many of its goals, like preserving home ownership and stimulating the economy. He also reported that the Treasury had switched accounting methods in order to promote the view that taxpayers would profit from the AIG bailout. One analyst depicted the Treasury's new accounting method as "Enron-style" accounting.