From Obama’s scandal mgmt playbook: The video

The long Washington Post story on the White House cover-up of its involvement in the Cartagena prostitution scandal is accompanied by the useful video below narrated by reporter Carol Leonnig. Three minutes long, it provides a useful short course in the scandal leading up to today’s revelations.

Today’s story by Leonnig and David Nakamura exposes the White House cover-up of staff involvement in the use of prostitutes in Cartagena despite the White House’s long-standing denial of involvement. The cover-up was intended to put the lid on the participation of then White House advance man Jonathan Dach in the use of prostitutes in Cartagena along with the Secret Service and military contingent advancing Obama’s visit. The White House cleared itself of involvement based on a purported investigation conducted by then White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler.

The Post story reports the Post’s review of “copies of the hotel logs for Dach’s stay, which showed that a woman was registered to Dach’s room at 12:02 a.m. April 4 and included an attached photocopy of a woman’s ID card. Through his attorney, Dach declined to discuss these details….” Ruemmler was made aware of the hotel records by the Secret Service. However, the “new information did not change the White House’s position.” The Post story is full of damning cover-up details.

The subsequent DHS inspector general investigation found that Dach used his Hilton Honors membership to have the additional room fee for the prostitute waived. The man is a member and the fee waiver is one of the privileges of membership.

The Post video includes Jay Carney’s announcement of the White House investigation conducted by counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, in which Dach was cleared of wrongdoing based on his denial. To put the mandatory dose of comic excess on top of the cover-up, it turns out that Dach started working this year full time in the Obama administration on a federal contract as a policy adviser in the Office on Global Women’s Issues at the State Department.

Put Jay Carney to one side. We all know he was the Baghdad Bob of the Obama administration. Where is Ruemmler now? She returned to private practice in July and thus is available to fill the big shoes that Eric Holder will be leaving behind some time soon. She clearly possesses the bona fide occupational qualifications to serve as Attorney General in the Age of Obama.

Janet Napolitano was also a player in the cover-up. She has found her calling as president of the University of California system.

The Post story warrants a close look in its entirety. It places Obama scandal management on the table for public viewing and the story replays the Obama scandal management routine in a farcical mode.

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