During President Barack Obama's May 16 news conference, reporter Jeff Mason asked as part of his question: "And, more broadly, how do you feel about comparisons by some of your critics of this week's scandals to those that happened under the Nixon administration?"

The president responded, "I'll let you guys engage in those comparisons, and you can go ahead and read the history, I think, and draw your own conclusions."

Actually, reading the history of President Richard Nixon and Watergate might not make much difference for a couple of reasons. Even those familiar with that history are still misusing it, but more important, it's certainly not the only history relevant to presidential scandals.