Inside the Beltway

Rep. Darrell Issa has referred to a job offer to Rep. Joe Sestak to get him out of Pennsylvania’s Senate primary as “Obama’s Watergate.”

OPENING THE ‘GATE’

Forget that convenient phrase, “BP is Obama’s Katrina.” The term “Oilgate” has bubbled to the surface now that partisan ramifications of the Gulf oil spill could supercede ecological concerns. Indeed, President Obama must now confront a murky, malodorous, sticky political landscape as well as a murky, malodorous, sticky oil slick. “Oilgate” – used in the British press to describe a 2004 political scandal in South Africa – has much potential for American journalists. It has appeared in the Radio Patriot, a blog by Florida talk-radio host Andrea Shea King. The Hill also flirted with the term last week. Oddly enough, it was showcased Monday by the Hindu – India’s national newspaper – which asked: “Will Oilgate stain the Obama presidency?”

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Harper is referring to the post I wrote on May 3 titled “Oil-gate?” You can read the rest of Harper’s Washington Times column here.

Thank you Ms. Harper for the mention.