"An Obama "scandal" as phony as Whitewater"

From somebody who should know: Salon's Joe Conason. Along with Gene Lyons, Conason helped write the book, literally, on the phony Clinton scandals from the 1990's.

This week, Conason is experiencing a very strong sense of deja vu:

To Barack Obama's most excitable adversaries, the firing of the Americorps inspector general that the president ordered last week is an incipient scandal, as loud and thrilling as Whitewater once was. Their fond memories of that ancient controversy (and its many sequels) were revived by the sudden dismissal of Gerald Walpin, a Bush administration appointee who has depicted himself as the victim of a political conspiracy. Insinuations and smears abound already -- including an attempt by the usual suspects to drag the first lady into the mud, Hillary-style, on the basis of anonymous allegations...

Conason concludes:

Unless there is much more to this story than what responsible journalists have found so far, the buzzing chatter on the right will soon subside into a disappointed murmur.

But shhh, don't tell Byron York. He's hot on the Walpin case.