Filed under: News, Politics, President Obama
If Republicans win control of the House, another messy Bill Clinton-style impeachment could be headed to President Obama and a televison near you.
The man most likely to push such a scenario, pundits say, is Republican Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.). Issa, (pictured above) has used money he earned from creating the Viper car theft deterrent system to leap above 8 other Republicans to become chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. If Republicans take charge of the House, he takes charge of the commitee.
You've most likely heard the Viper system in action. Get too close to a car and you'll hear Issa's voice saying: "Protected by Viper. Stand back."
These days, Issa has used his voice to become a strong critic of Obama. The AP writes:
His criticisms of Obama focus, in part, on the affordable mortgage program, financial bailout policies, preservation of White House records, correspondence with lobbyists and the president's political appointees to a stimulus panel. A sign in his office, presented by his staff, says, "The corruption stops here."
Oh no. Not another two years of a presidency spent tackling impeachment instead of the major issues facing America such as the disparity between the rich and poor, our continuing financial crisis, failing schools or our ever expanding trade deficit with China. Democratic Senator Al Franken said he believes Issa willl launch a "witch hunt" if Republicans win control of the House.
Jonathan Chait of The New Republic makes a very convincing argument about why he thinks an impeachment attempt is almost guaranteed.
Chait writes:
Wait, you say. What will they impeach him over? You can always find something. Mini-scandals break out regularly in Washington. Last spring, the political press erupted in a frenzy over the news that the White House had floated a potential job to prospective Senate candidate Joe Sestak. On a scale of one to 100, with one representing presidential jaywalking and 100 representing Watergate, the Sestak job offer probably rated about a 1.5. Yet it was enough that GOP Representative Darrell Issa called the incident an impeachable offense.
It is safe to say that Issa's threshold of what constitutes an impeachable offense is not terribly high. As it happens, should Republicans win control of the House, Issa would bring his hair-trigger finger to the chairmanship of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The Sestak pseudo-scandal disappeared because there was no process to drive the story forward. Had Issa been running the Oversight Committee, it would have been the subject of hearings and subpoenas.
So Issa, if Republicans take control of the House, could begin papering the White House with subpoenas about everything from basic Washington politics to whether Michelle Obama is taking more closet space than her husband.
I'm being silly, but I'd expect the subpoenas to dip to new levels of hypocrisy and triteness.
Obama is out rallying the troops to try and make sure that doesn't happen. The AP writes:
But the task of turning out voters is harder this time around. Turnout typically is lower in non-presidential election years, and the party in control of the White House traditionally loses seats in Congress in the off years.
The White House is also mindful of what's at stake should the GOP increase its ranks in Congress, or perhaps pick up the 40 seats the party needs to win back control of the House. More Republicans could translate into scant progress on the to-do list for the second half of Obama's presidency.
Issa appears to be speaking out of both sides of his mouth on the issue."Not a chance at this point. I don't see it happening," Issa said when asked about impeachment.
"Look, disagreeing with the president - the president using his authority, maybe even misusing it - that's not what impeachment's for," Issa said. "Do we have disagreements? Yes. Do we want to see that the president strictly adheres to process? Yes."
I don't believe him. Issa's incessant criticism of Obama, combined with him calling the Sestak incident an "impeachable offense" combined with the fact that he spent $2 million of his own money to help recall former California Gov. Gray Davis (who had just been elected by the way) leads me to believe we may be heading for another Monica Lewinsky-type scandal.
That's why its up to Americans to step up and say they are tired of the politics, especially at a time when so many of us are suffering.
We need to make it clear to our elected officials that, regardless of which party controls the houses of Congress, we want the focus to be on jobs, fixing social security and helping the economy to recover.
Maybe Issa should take a cue from his own Viper products:
"Stand back from the subpoenas. Back away from the President."