Ralph Nader: C'mon, let's impeach Obama

The reason Congress won’t do it, he says, “is because it’s abdicated its own responsibility under the Constitution.” When the man’s right, he’s right. And he’s also right, sad to say, in seizing on the war in Libya as an especially egregious example of Obama’s executive power grabs. Not only was that illegal according to O’s own lawyers, but Congress’s passivity may have emboldened Obama later to defy federal statutes on domestic subjects too, like ObamaCare. They wouldn’t sue him under the War Powers Act for fear that, if the courts sided with them, it’d not only spark a constitutional crisis but any ensuing brutality in Libya would be laid squarely on the GOP for having tied the military’s hands. They wouldn’t sue him over ObamaCare because the politics of winning would have been terrible for them — the employer mandate would have been enforced, canceled plans would have stayed canceled, deadlines would have been strictly policed, and Obama shamelessly would have blamed Republicans for all of it. Needless to say, if they’re afraid to sue, they’re certainly not about to impeach the first black president, even if arguably the most famous progressive in America is on their side. (Speaking of which, would Nader also support impeachment for O’s overreach on O-Care? Zeleny never asks him in the clip.)

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What happens next year, though? Every now and then a YouTube video bubbles up of some angry conservative demanding of his/her rep at a town-hall meeting that Obama be impeached. And every time it does, the excuse given is the same: It’s pointless to try to impeach O as long as the Senate’s controlled by Democrats. They’ll vote to acquit him and that’ll be that. Given the way the midterms are shaping up, that excuse will no longer fly come January. What will the new excuse be? My bet is that they’ll claim there’s so little time left in his presidency that it doesn’t pay to spend the political capital needed to do it. Better to just wait him out, maybe file a lawsuit or two the next time he decides to unilaterally change the law on O-Care or invade a country, and hope for the best in 2016. Will that fly with grassroots righties? Click the image to watch; the impeachment comments come at around 2:50.

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