A Country Divided

A recent CNN/ORC national poll indicates that if the 2012 presidential election were held today Governor Mitt Romney would beat President Barack Obama by a margin of 53% to 44%.  But a slew of recent national polls show that three-quarters of all Americans disapprove of the job Congress is doing.  

Together these polls reflect enormous dissatisfaction with Washington.  Nonetheless, Republicans, even those in Congress, have been unrelenting in their attacks on President Obama.  Since Obama's first day in office in January 2009 Congressional Republicans have done all they can to block President Obama.  Worse, they have consistently done all they can to delegitimize the Obama presidency at all costs.  They have put party politics ahead of the well being of the American people.

Politics in America has always been a rough and tumble profession.  But, with the emergence of powerful conservative media outlets, the country has become more divided.  Calls for presidential impeachment have cast a shadow over most modern day presidents.  However, the chorus of impeachers seems louder in the past year.  A recent poll by CNN/ORC found that 57% of Republicans support impeaching Obama, while just 35% of independents and 13% of Democrats support such an action. 

The United States Constitution states, "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."  Some Republicans point to Benghazi and the failure to secure America's southern border as reasons to impeach Obama.  Others cite Obama's use of executive orders as an abuse of power.  But President George W. Bush issued an executive order every 10 days, President Ronald Reagan issued an executive order every 7 days, and President Jimmy Carter issued one every 5 days.  In fact, Obama's rate of executive orders is the lowest since President Grover Cleveland.  

In the near future, President Obama will likely take action to change immigration laws, a hot button issue for Republicans who have blocked all efforts for meaningful reform.  White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer, speaking at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast last week, said, “It would be foolish to discount the possibility that Republicans would think about going down that path."  But many Republicans think it would be foolish to pursue impeachment.  They remember that right after the House voted to impeach President Bill Clinton in 1998, for perjury and obstruction of justice, his approval rating surged 10 points to 73% in a Gallup Poll. 

In mid July Republican House Judiciary Committee chairman Robert Goodlatte of Virginia said on ABC's This Week, “We are not working on or drawing up articles of impeachment.” He added, “The Constitution is very clear as to what constitutes grounds for impeachment of the president of the United States. He (Obama) has not committed the kind of criminal acts that call for that.” Meanwhile, House Speaker John Boehner, who has said he disagrees with impeachment, has moved ahead with plans to sue the president over his use of executive powers.  Specifically, Boehner is suing the president for failing to execute the health care law by delaying the law's employer mandates.  This is the same healthcare law House Republicans have voted more than 50 times to repeal.  

The Boehner lawsuit and talk of impeachment have given Democrats an opportunity to increase fundraising efforts.  Last week House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi emailed supporters, "Yesterday, for the first time in history, Congress voted to sue a sitting president. Today, the White House alerted us that they believe 'Speaker Boehner … has opened the door to impeachment.'"  Democrats face many difficult midterm elections this November, and may lose control of the Senate.  

Ten years ago then Senator Barack Obama made a keynote address at the Democratic National Convention that would win him broad acclaim.  "Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes." Obama said.  "Well, I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal America and a conservative America; there's the United States of America."

Sadly for America, those who embrace the politics of anything goes are winning. 

Palin's Prose

A dozen U.S. presidents have been threatened with impeachment over this country's history, including Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and now Barack Obama.  The House or Representatives has voted to impeach only Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, but the Senate later acquitted each of them.

Calls for presidential impeachment have increased in recent times, as the country has grown more polarized.    It is an attention-getting device for opponents to attack a president and his policies.  It can also be an effective way for politicians to pander to their base, raise money and get television airtime.

So is the case for former Alaska Governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who is a master of strident and senseless hyperbole.  Palin's latest screed, which was posted on Breitbart.com Tuesday, begins, "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.'"

Palin accuses President Obama of a "purposeful dereliction of duty" that has led to "an untold number of illegal immigrants...competing against Americans for our jobs and limited public services."   She adds, "Without borders, there is no nation...Obama knows this.  Opening our borders to a flood of illegal immigrants is deliberate. This is his fundamental transformation of America. It's the only promise he has kept."  Of course, illegal immigration and border security have been a daunting problem for decades.

Her conclusion is, "It's time to impeach," adding, "The many impeachable offenses of Barack Obama can no longer be ignored.  If after all this he's not impeachable, then no one is."

The man who brought Palin to the national stage as his Republican running mate, Senator John McCain, did not join her call for Obama's impeachment.  When asked, McCain told the Huffington Post, "I always respect other people's opinions."   Really?  McCain then said, "Am I proposing that the president be impeached? No."  And on Wednesday, when House Speaker John Boehner was asked if Republicans should impeach President Obama instead of suing him, as Boehner is doing, he replied, "I disagree."

There are a number of conservative Republican Congressmen who have at least suggested that Obama's impeachment be considered.  Republicans hope to gain control of the Senate in the upcoming midterm elections by capitalizing on the president's unpopularity in several key Senate races.   But an attempt to impeach the president would only strengthen the party's "obstructionist" image, and not sit well with a majority of the American public.   That would jeopardize the party's 2014 midterm results.

Of course, the chances of impeaching Obama are nil, but that doesn't matter to Palin.   Her goal is to stay in the limelight.  And she knows that her loyal following will always admire her puerile prose, whether on Facebook or cable television.   After all, in Palin's own words, "What is the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick."   How about, "No mas" Sarah Palin?