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.
Why should Americans impeach America’s first mixed-race President? Obama should be impeached to protect our nation from a precipitous slide into economic ruin and societal decay. Lacking a constitutional mechanism for voters to remove a President who is providing disastrous leadership, impeachment is our only alternative for avoiding further grievous harm. Like a charlatan physician feeding laetrile to a cancer patient, Obama and his minions have misdiagnosed, mistreated, and mismanaged our economy from his first day in office. Here are some particulars:
1. Protecting the plutocracy. In the Obama administration, the holders of concentrated private wealth come first. Their interests, generally represented in proportion to their political contributions, are defended at all costs. Obama has effectively been bribed to protect the wealthy, and the payoff will come in his future media deals and speaking fees.
2. Rewarding incompetence and reinforcing failure. The economic management team put in place by Obama is led by “experts” whose theories of deregulation and minimal interference with the marketplace resulted in the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. They not only failed to forsee the problems, but are now failing to prevent their recurrence. Summers, Geithner, and Bernanke have presided over the largest transfer of taxpayer wealth to private corporations in American history. Meanwhile, unemployment rises inexorably, while a “recovery” is achieved by proclamation. Some of what has been done in secret dealings between the Obama administration and the malefactors of great wealth rises to the level of criminal conspiracy.
3. Preserving and extending a permanent warfare state. Obama has increased defense spending above Bush administration levels, because he is firmly committed to a permanent warfare state. This enriches the Military-Industrial-Complex, while providing a safety valve for unemployed and restless young people. It is the highest form of treason to engage America in unnecessary wars.
4. Making the President the supreme arbiter of the law. Obama declared that he alone would ban torture, and that no Congressional action would be required. He blocked the prosecution of Bush Administration war criminals as a further demonstration that all power effectively resides in the presidency. His continuation of the use of signing statements is further evidence of the continuation of Bush’s imperial presidency. This arrogant assertion that the President alone controls the detention and torture of prisoners in an endless war is a flagrant violation of the Constitution.
It is a sad thing that so promising a politician as Barak Obama has failed so badly, but we must accept the unhappy facts. Charm is no substitute for competence, and a smooth speaking style does not compensate for a faulty character. Obama the President is not what we were promised by Obama the candidate. The deficits in his performance are so great that they warrant removal. Impeach Obama while something of America remains to be saved.