My Fellow Americans,

Over the past few weeks, a series of revelations about the attack in Benghazi, the conduct of the Internal Revenue Service over the past few years, and the tactics used by the Justice Department in an investigation have shaken the confidence of the American people in their government.  I must admit that I was as surprised by some of the allegations myself, and I am also shocked that I did not know about the IRS and Associated Press situations before everyone else did.  For that, I apologize to you, for my foremost duty is to be a good steward of the nation, and there is no excuse for knowing when my subordinates are violating the trust of the American people.

I have reached out to Senate Majority Leader Reid and Speaker of the House Boehner and requested that they convene bi-partisan joint committees to fully investigate and air out these issues.  There is no better disinfectant than sunlight, and I believe that when you all see your government openly discussing these scandals, you will regain your trust in us.  I am directing all members of the executive branch of government to cooperate fully with the Congress in this, and will not be invoking executive privilege.  Those who fail to cooperate with the investigations will be removed from their positions, and anyone who is found to have broken the law will be referred for prosecution with no hope of a pardon from me.

Ladies and gentlemen, as Harry Truman once said, the buck stops here.  I am the chief executive of the government, and while I give authority to the members of my cabinet and their agencies to run the government and enforce the laws, the responsibility for what they do with that authority rests with me.  I pledge to each and every one of you that I will redouble my efforts to be a deserving recipient of your trust, and have changed the ways that I oversee the various departments and agencies of the government.  In addition, I have made it clear to all of the cabinet secretaries that I expect to know about major issues as soon as they come to light, and that I will not hesitate to fire anyone who tries to keep such things from me, either by deception or omission.

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So that’s it.  If President Obama were to make that speech, preferably on national television, and follow through on what he promises, I’d give him a lot more credit than I ever have in the past.  If there is “no there, there”, then taking these steps would finally put out these fires.  If there is indeed something there, then it would get it out in the open so that we can deal with it and be done with it.

I must say, if he were to do this, he’d be the first chief executive in my lifetime to do so, Democrat or Republican, and they all have had something rotten that needed a little sunshine.