White House Embroiled in Scandal Turns to Senate Majority Leader Who Went After President In His Party

Howard Baker died yesterday at the age of 88. He
was Tennessee’s first Republican elected to the U.S. Senate since
Reconstruction, eventually rising to the position of Senate
Majority Leader. He left in 1985 but returned to Washington in
1987, as reported at the time by TIME Magazine:

The circumstances were similar: the White House was embroiled in
scandal and a presidency tottered on the brink of disaster. At the
Senate Watergate Committee hearings during the summer of 1973, an
earnest Republican lawmaker from Tennessee became famous when he
framed the essential question concerning Richard Nixon: “What did
the President know, and when did he know it?” The answer led to
Nixon’s downfall.

Nearly 14 years later, another White House crisis is thrusting
Howard Baker back into the headlines. This time, however, he may be
the best hope to rescue a floundering President.

The White House has found itself once again—and perhaps has been
perpetually since Watergate—“embroiled in scandal” with a
presidency “totter[ing] on the brink of disaster.” Who are the
Democrats challenging President Obama on scandals ranging from the
IRS to Benghazi to the NSA?
Ron Wyden and Mark Udall come to mind, at least on the NSA. The
Democrats speaking up about the IRS—now that that agency’s excuses are tough to
swallow even for some die hard partisans—happen to be up
for re-election in November. And what Democrat in the Senate
could you imagine President Obama calling on to rescue his
presidency, rather than digging in further on the same tired
partisan rhetoric of the last generation?