Many in the grassroots have suggested that Obama should be impeached for his persistent overreach as president. The list of grievances has accumulated over the years, whether it is Obama’s inappropriate use of Executive Orders, proclivity to bypass Congress on policy, unauthorized judge appointments, nullification of DOMA legislation, abuses by IRS, mishandling of Benghazi, unilateral decision to free terrorists or ignoring immigration laws – just to name a few. However, as Obama continues to demonstrate a blatant disregard for Congress and the Constitution, prominent political figures in and outside of Congress are now calling on House Leadership to move forward with the impeachment process against the president.
The latest people to publicly call for impeachment proceeding to commence are Allen West and Sarah Palin. Allen West called on the House Leadership to draft up articles of impeachment and stated,
I submit that Barack Hussein Obama’s unilateral negotiations with terrorists occurred without consult from the U.S. Congress and resulted in the release of dangerous Al Qaeda leaders. These actions represent high crimes and misdemeanors against our nation and are grounds for impeachment.
Sarah Palin has now suggested that Obama should be impeached for his refusal to enforce our immigration laws. She stated on Breitbart News:
“Enough is enough of the years of abuse from this president. His unsecured border crisis is the last straw that makes the battered wife say, ‘no mas.’…
“It’s time to impeach; and on behalf of American workers and legal immigrants of all backgrounds, we should vehemently oppose any politician on the left or right who would hesitate in voting for articles of impeachment.”
As The Post’s Aaron Blake has noted, the members of Congress who have mentioned the possibility of impeachment are Sens. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Reps. Blake Farenthold (R-Tex.), Kerry Bentivolio (R-Mich.), Michael Burgess (R-Tex.) and Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), former congressmen Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) and Allen West (R-Fla.).
Speaker Boehner has been very clearly on where he stands on the requests within his caucus for articles of impeachment – “NO!”
It is important to remember what our Constitution states about impeachment:
At the federal level, Article II of the United States Constitution (Section 4) states that “The President, Vice President, and all civil Officers of the United States shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors.” The House of Representatives has the sole power of impeaching, while the United States Senate has the sole power to try all impeachments.
It seems highly unlikely that the Senate would take up an impeachment trial. Given that, does it make sense for the House to move forward with the impeachment process? Would it be solely for political reasons? Or would it serve a greater purpose of bringing more awareness on the executive violations of our president?
One thing is for sure, despite the additional high profile individuals calling on Obama to be impeached, it seems highly unlikely at this point in time.
16 comments
http://pjmedia.com/andrewmccarthy/2014/07/14/gop-clueless-on-impeachment/?singlepage=true
Those two should be referred to as Allen and Sarah “Who”. The “Who” brother and sister. Really, give me a break, two has been political losers.
Just when do we see the Republican plan for America, or anything else for that matter?
Hey, Radtke! I notice you didn’t put your opinion on the topic in this article. What’s your take on it? If you were in Congress, would you push for articles of impeachment?
Allen West & Sarah Palin are to politics as Al Sharpton & Jesse Jackson are to racial issues.
If people ignore them and work together towards eliminating the problems insead of fanning the flames, they become irrelevant and will go away for good. All four of the people I’ve mentioned have no political power, very little real influence and only have a small percentage of supporters that they throw red meat at in order to froth them up.
Seems the blog’s consensus is that any impeachment effort is not a realistic option to which I agree. So why I ask are Palin, West and others beating this drum so fervently. I can do four function arithmetic, as can each of you, as can Palin and West. Any successfully concluded Senate trial will require a two-thirds supermajority (67 senators) to impeach. Currently Senate seats are Democratic Party, 53. Republican Party, 45. Independent, 2. The two independent members are Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine both of whom caucus with the Democrats. Best case estimates of the 2014 midterms are a Republican Senate pickup of 4 -6 seats, which would give them a Senate majority but FAR from the necessary supermajority required to impeach. Even if you throw-in Sanders and King and every Republican vote you would still be 14 votes short! Believing that there are 14 Democratic crossover votes in the Senate is a pure pipe dream.
So again if we can do the simple vote count are we to believe Palin, West, et al. cannot? What I believe this is really about is what I have come to call Tea Party, Inc. This isn’t simply Palin its SarahPAC, its not just Allen West, its Guardian Fund. Whether or not you maintain these entities are only doing the people’s work or see them as just making a cash grab, the one thing they are NOT about is Barack Obama’s impeachment. These political action groups appear to be a growing trend within the Tea Party movement regardless of the IRS’s willful attempt at suppression. If you throw in another example, like the Club for Growth, this is starting to look awfully like the K-street operations of the establishment Republican and Democratic Party machines. I have no answers only personal opinions but if you believe that where you are heading is beginning to look like what you want to leave behind you may be on the wrong road.
I think you’re onto something, LW.
You may be correct, scoundrels and money.
this is going to backfire. Stupid move, but typical Palin.
This is beyond ridiculous.This is the hallmark of a political caucus that cares more about proving how goddamn self-righteous they are than winning over voters with ideas or competing in elections.
Impeaching Obama is absolutely a non-starter. There is Z-E-R-O chance it will ever happen. There is 99.9% likelihood that any effort will result in huge public backlash that will only result in more Democrats getting elected.
The more it gets discussed, the worse our entire party looks, and the more clear it becomes that getting elected and actually ENACTING conservative policy just isn’t something many so-called conservatives care about.
Commenters Jerry Benson and Virginia Patriot have it right. A senate conviction is not going to happen, is therefore at best a waste of time, and at worst is directly counterproductive. Among the other lessons of the Clinton impeachment is that unless you can get a serious number of the other party to go along the public will see it as a purely partisan move. And indeed this is exactly what happened with the impeachment of Bill Clinton, with most polls showing that the public opposed, and the result being we did far worse in the1998 mid-term elections than we thought we would.
Further, if I have to point it out, impeaching the first black president… what could go wrong? Please do not bring up Allen West as a counter to this because he is not taken seriously by the black community, and he only managed one term in congress.
In the end our best counter to Obama is to do well this November,. Electing conservatives is the goal we should concentrate on, and all this talk of impeachment achieves is to fire up the opposition. It needs to stop.
Continued talk of impeachment will only serve to bring Dems to the polls in Nov, who would otherwise stay home. Also talk of impeachment is a distraction for the illegals invasion crises on our southern border – and that’s where our attention should be.
The point is to start the drumbeat. We are tired of the silly reasons why Republicans don’t want impeachment. We are tired of excuses and the fear that exists within the party structure. The only remedy for Obama is impeachment. He will continue to work his evil until he is stopped and it looks as if the Republican Party is unwilling to stop him. That is why all of those Republican voters stay at home. Why vote for someone that is afraid to act and save their country? Until Republicans stand up for the Constitution, the Republican Creed, God, Motherhood, etc, etc. there will be this endless parade of silliness that we and every American understand as weakness in the Republican Party. You don’t need a big tent, you need to energize your base. So far not one of the candidates seem to understand that except Dave Brat. Well, and Zach Werrell.
yes, we need leaders to speak up. The political class/consultants etc do not understand that we need powerful voices to support and defend us. Palin speaks for grassroots. Whether we can impeach is actually beside the point. Palin is a leader. Many in politics are process oriented but they are not inspiring or leading. Thus they do not understand Palin or her value.
All these cries for impeachment – which are uncalled for – are doing is providing the Democrats with fundraising fodder.
We don’t need to energize our base by appealing to emotion and fearmongering.
Is Obama guilty of failing to faithfully execute the laws of this country? Of course! But Sarah Palin further erodes her credibility by continuing the pointless call for impeachment. Our best option is to elect legislators who believe in the Constitution.
There is no chance that the Senate would convict. Therefore, it would serve no useful purpose, but would only be a distraction that would work against the Republicans. Even if it were to succeed, where would it leave us? It would leave us with President Biden? There are no good options, but the best of the poor options is to continue to resist Obama’s efforts to undermine the Constitution, render his presidency impotent, and set our eyes on 2016.