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Is Obama Really 'Madder Than Hell' Over VA Scandal?

AP
May 19, 2014

Last week, after a seemingly emotionless Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki told a Senate Committee he was "mad as hell" about the allegations of incompetence and corruption at VA hospitals, White House spokesman Jay Carney wouldn't go quite that far when discussing the commander in chief's outrage over the scandal. "He certainly is very concerned and angry about the allegations that we've seen regarding specifically the Phoenix office," Carney told ABC News' Jon Karl.

After 48 hours of focus testing, the White House spin machine discovered that voters want their president madder than that, so the White House chief of staff told CBS News' Major Garrett that Obama was "madder than hell" over the growing scandal.

Because, you know, "madder" is more than "mad."

This does call into question whether the president really is "madder than hell" over this scandal or whether he needs to say he's "madder than hell" to keep reporters and pundits from asking pesky questions.

How did the president express his "madder than hell" attitude? According to the Associated Press, he went golfing at a really nice country club:

President Barack Obama departed from his usual golf routine on Saturday by taking his clubs to an exclusive course in Northern Virginia. Obama usually plays his standard weekend golf game at Andrews Air Force Base or at Fort Belvoir in Virginia.

But on Saturday the president and his three companions teed off instead at the elite Robert Trent Jones Golf Clubon the shores of Lake Manassas in Gainesville, Virginia. The club, where membership is by invitation only, has played host to four Presidents Cup tournaments since it was established in 1991.

Maybe he was taking out his anger on little Mr. Titleist?

Lots of people I know use social media to express their "madderness." Maybe Obama took to Twitter for a good old fashioned Twitter rant to let out some steam.

According to the very active White House Twitter feed, Obama was "madder" about some things last week ... but not the VA scandal:

He was "madder" at Republicans over breaking bridges, or something:

And he's pretty "madder" about Brown v. Board of Education from 6 decades ago because ... racism:

He's definitely "madder" that it used to be illegal to have an abortion:

He's super "madder" about concussions in sports:

And not having "access to transit" makes him "madderer" than all get out:

But not a whole lot about the VA. If he got any madder, imagine what it would look like. He might even make a public statement.