So … the president goes on national TV, says the temporary commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service has been asked to resign over a controversy involving conservative political groups’ activity, calls the allegations of harassment “inexcusable,” and the story ends.

Right?

Hardly.

Still, I’ll give the president huge props for taking the steps needed to try to get ahead of this story, which in my view overshadows the Benghazi controversy by a good bit.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/05/16/chastened_obama_fires_irs_chief_releases_emails_118446.html

Barack Obama has been beset in recent days with a triple-whammy of trouble: the lingering Benghazi controversy involving the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate, the IRS matter and then the seizing of phone logs of Associated Reporters and editors.

The president on Wednesday sought to put a couple of those tempests down, the IRS and Benghazi. I think he made some headway on both fronts.

The IRS matter poses a potentially serious breach of trust. IRS officials reportedly hassled “tea party patriot” groups’ applications for tax-exempt status. Obama called the allegations “outrageous” and vowed to get to the bottom of them. Then he announced the resignation of IRS boss Steven Miller, who reportedly was planning to quit anyway. He vowed to work “hand in hand” with Congress in probing the matter.

House Speaker John Boehner insists that resignations and firings might not be enough. He wants to see people jailed. Come on, Mr. Speaker, take what you can get and move on.

The IRS matter needs a quick resolution. The Benghazi matter needs it too.

An hour before announcing Miller’s resignation, the White House released email transcripts stemming from the Benghazi attack. They seem to back up the White House’s version of what happened that night when four American officials died in a terrible fire fight, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens. Chaos took over and no one seemed able to get the straight story out to the public.

Right-wing media outlets, though, are keeping the Benghazi story alive by suggesting a coverup has taken place. They want some political scalps, notably former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who’s considered by many a sure-fire candidate for president in 2016.

Is the Benghazi story over? No more than the IRS story is over. Republican congressional leaders have picked up the scent and the hunt is on to harvest some political hay.

Their hatred for the president, though, carries some huge risks for them if they pursue either story with anything that looks like too much gusto. We’ve all seen how badly these political attacks can end – particularly for the pursuer.