New Culture Of Irresponsibility

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Investors Business Daily:

Leadership: What do the GSA spending scandal, the Secret Service sex scandal and Leon Panetta's expensive weekend trips home have in common? They stem from a culture of irresponsibility set by the man in the White House.

When President Obama came to Washington, he promised to usher in a "new era of responsibility," one where everyone would recognize "duties to ourselves, our nation and the world." But Obama has delivered the opposite.

He's used the presidency to lavish himself and his family with hugely expensive perks. He's used the Treasury as a piggy bank to reward donors and friends. He's blurred the line between campaign trips and presidential business. And let's not forget the fact that he's driving the country towards a financial cliff.

Since taking office, for example, the Obamas have jetted off on 16 vacations, with one — their 2011 Christmas vacation in Hawaii — costing taxpayers more than $1.5 million. His daughter's spring break in Mexico required a massive protection detail.

Just for kicks, Obama flew himself and British Prime Minister David Cameron to Ohio for an NCAA basketball game, at a cost of $365,000.

When a local TV reporter grilled Obama about his vacationing ways, he airily dismissed the complaint. "I'm raising a family here," he said, and besides, "most folks understand how hard I work."

When not treating himself, Obama was showering taxpayer gifts on his friends. The Hoover Institution's Peter Schweizer has revealed that 80% of the "green" companies getting Energy Dept. grants and loans were run or substantially owned by Obama financial backers. And the Washington Post discovered that Obama gave more than half of his 47 biggest fundraisers plum administration jobs.