Impeachment does not serve its proper constitutional function. There have only been two presidents in history who have been impeached, and both of them were for political charges. Andrew Johnson, because he didn't support carpet baggers that wanted to destroy the South, and Bill Clinton, because he existed. And if you think Perjury is an impeachable offense and don't think Bush should have been impeached, then just stop reading here.
So, as I said, history has demonstrated that at least for presidents and I think largely for most else, Impeachment is a Political, not a constitutional or legal process. The opposition party or faction has used it to weaken the President.
The current President has already committed at least two impeachable offenses, violating the War Powers Act by continuing hostile action in Libya without consulting congress (they eventually got around to it) and failure to prosecute George W. Bush and members of his cabinet for the War Crimes they initiated in the invasion to Iraq. Technically you could blame Holder for that, but Obama can remove him office.
But I'm speaking in political terms.
Obama is essentially a Republican president at this point. Yes, he nominates slightly less crazy people than Republicans. Yes, there is a difference, but you have to understand that party discipline is paramount. If a party can't enforce its own principals, its worse than useless. The dems keep caving and in part that is because Obama is basically a Reagan Republican.
The Republicans would love to impeach him because it empowers them but don't have the votes for it.
The Democrats should impeach him because he's a Republican. He has shut out the Democratic members of the legislature time and time again. He doesn't support democratic legislative priorities.
Removing him from office would make Biden president. Biden might say he supports the President but I REALLY doubt he'd give away the store like Obama is.
Failure to remove Obama from office will mean a likely Republican victory in 2012, as seniors, furious at being betrayed on Social Security, vote for a Republican rather than vote for Obama. Yes, Republicans will be worse, but they won't care.
People will want to 'send a message' just like they did in 2010. Do you honestly expect people to gain more of a memory or more intelligence in 2 short years? I don't.
Which means if Democrats want a chance of victory in 2012, they need to impeach Obama NOW.
Now there is some bipartisanship.
So Captain Caveman has decided cutting Social Security is bad because Boehner walked away like a dumbass.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/07/22/997619/-White-House-Surprised-By-Boehners-Withdrawal?via=siderec
That hardly makes Obama have guts but if Social Security is not actually stupidly cut then keeping him around is marginally preferable to impeaching him from the democrat's perspective.
Then again so would having a Moss Covered Three Handled Credenza, because at least an inanimate object wouldn't start all negotiations by giving away the store and then deciding how much more you were going to give away.