
In
retrospect, if Clinton had been removed from office, the nation would have had
Al Gore replace him. I have often wondered if the Senators at that time had
that in mind in giving Clinton a pass. Fast forward to today and the removal of
Obama would leave us with Biden.
In the
wake of the Watergate Scandal Richard Nixon resigned from office rather than
face impeachment. His Attorney General went to jail along with others involved,
but Nixon skated. He would be pardoned by President Gerald Ford.
There has always
been talk of impeachment of presidents and other federal officers by those who
believe they have grounds to bring such action in the House. It is rare, however.
The House has initiated proceedings only 64 times since 1789 and only 19
resulted in Articles of Impeachment that were then submitted to the Senate for
a vote.
President
Obama has generated a lot of talk of impeachment, but it is my view that
impeachment is such an inherently political act, that few in Congress have
wanted to grapple with the indictments. Impeachment is a politically
radioactive option spelled out in Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution,
citing “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors” as cause.
In January
Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) said he would initiate impeachment proceedings
against President Obama if he should implement new gun regulations via
executive orders or actions. Speaking to Fox News in January, former Attorney
General Edwin Meese, said “If he tried to override the Second Amendment in any
way, I believe it would be an impeachable offense.”
The
political reality of our present times is that the Senate is controlled by
Democrats and they are unlikely to vote to convict President Obama. Should
power in the Senate shift to Republicans in 2014 and should they retain power
in the House, Obama would face the possibility of impeachment, but one suspects
both houses of Congress at that point would want to concentrate on repealing
Obamacare and reducing the nation’s growing debt.
A lengthy
article, “The Growing Case for Impeachment of Obama”, posted on World Net Daily
on February 10, called on the legal expertise of several scholars and, in
general, they found grounds for impeachment in only a few instances.
Among the
grounds cited was the White House cover-up of Operation Fast & Furious, an
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms program that managed to lose approximately 2,000
weapons across the U.S.-Mexico border, presumably to drug lords, and tied to
the deaths of as many as a hundred people, including a U.S. Border Patrol
agent. Congress eventually held Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt, but a
U.S. attorney ignored Congress and did not bring charges against Holder.
Despite invoking executive privilege, President Obama would not likely be
impeached.
Sen. Rand
Paul made some history with his filibuster concerning whether the President has
the right to use drones to kill anyone deemed a terrorist on U.S. territory. He
has already used drones in other nations to kill al Qaeda leaders, including a
U.S. citizen in Yemen, Anwar al-Awlaki, in September 2011. The White House
issued a “white paper” justifying the use of drones and Fox News’ Judge Andrew
Napolitano said it was so vague that it could be cited should Obama take such
action in the U.S. One of the WND legal
scholars, Bruce Fein, argued that the killings were “tantamount to murder.”
Fein said, “You can’t have a democracy and the rule of law if you never get to know
what the facts are and you just have to accept what the government says there
are.”
What Obama
and earlier Presidents have learned is that Congress has always preferred to
delegate decisions to the chief executive or let government agencies write any
regulations they want rather than exercise strong oversight. This is a serious
breach of its constitutional duty.
Among the
other actions by Obama cited as grounds for impeachment are his appointment of
“czars” to advise him, none of whom were subject to the advice and consent of
the Senate. He ran afoul of Congress when he made recess appointments to the
consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the National Labor Relations Board.
Subsequently, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the NLRB appointments violated
the Constitution because the Senate was, in fact, in session. The appointments
remain intact, sinking into the morass of Congressional indifference.
Suing
Arizona for enforcing federal law with one of its own, issuing an executive
order illegal-alien amnesty for those brought here by their parents, refusing
to defend the Defense of Marriage Act, and, most potently, conducting war
against Libya without consulting Congress. The cover-up of the Benghazi attack
with its subsequent lies would seem grounds, but here again those in Congress
trying to secure information about it have been largely stonewalled.
Steven
Goddard, whose Real Science blog is must reading, recently noted “a few things
Obama forgot to mention before the election”
# He
didn’t plan to balance the budget.
# He
planned to kill Americans on US soil without trial.
# He
planned to trash the Bill of Rights.
# He
planned to confiscate American guns.
# His
primary goal for the next two years as to trash Republicans ahead of the 2014
elections.
# He
planned to ban coal.
# He
planned to personally control the climate.
# He
planned to do everything by executive order and bypass the Congress.
A weak or
indifferent Congress, aided by a compliant press, has surely led Obama to
believe that he can get away with infractions of the Constitution and to
conclude, at least until the outcome of the 2014 midterm elections, that he can
get away with it.
Impeachment?
Not likely.
© Alan
Caruba, 2013
5 comments:
We have a Democrat controlled Senate, Obama has NO chance of facing impeachment, not until, or IF the Senate changes hands, and even then, with RINOs like McCain, who knows...
Everything in this administrations reeks of corruption and more and that includes the house and senate.
So that's why Biden is still around.
Excellent article, examining the survivability of Obama against impeachment. A point of clarifaction: Anwar al-Awlaki was killed 09/30/11, not in 2001, and it was not at the hands of Obama. Thanks, Alan. You do yeoman's work.
No Seamusdubh, Biden is why Obama is still around ...
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