Why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why… That’s eight why’s in case you were wondering. It’s the exact amount of why’s necessary to inquire the motives of certain Republicans who are obsessed with trying to impeach President Barack Obama. We get it, you don’t like the guy and you’re sour that you couldn’t beat him with Grampa McCain and the smug millionaire who establishing socialized health care in Massachusetts before centering his campaign on killing the Affordable Care Act. It definitely hurts our pride that he won two elections, no doubt about that, but you all need to quit trying to kick the man out of office before our party is destroyed like Captain Ahab. It’s foolish to impeach Obama because it’s too late in his tenure to do any good, it will further polarize the populace of an already divided country, and such an act would be poisonous during the election cycle.
It is simply too late to impeach Barack Obama. Impeaching a president is like growing a garden. You need to plant and reap at the right time in order to yield the best crop. For example, Republicans were looking for any excuse to kick Bill Clinton out of office in 1998. Lying about his affair with the young Monica Lewinsky was just the excuse they needed to charge him with high crimes and misdemeanors.1 If you folks really wanted to impeach Obama, you should have introduced articles in the wake of Benghazi, or when everyone was p’o-ed that the Obama-Care website wasn’t working. Impeachment is generally meant to end the administration before it can do anything more to negatively affect the country. (See Johnson, Andrew.)2 Barack Obama has already done everything on his agenda. The man has introduced pseudo- socialized health care to the country, made good on the destructive promise to end the war in Iraq (which we now know caused the destabilization of the country that led to the rise of ISIS), and even renewed relations with the despotic Cuban government after fifty-three years of embargo. There isn’t much left for the soon-to-be lame duck president to do but travel and golf. (Which he’s already quite proficient at, I might add.)
Let’s also think about this for a second: America is already the home of an unstable and restless population of multiple races. In recent years the people of the United States have been being played against each other and divided for political gain. Could you imagine the civil unrest that would be experienced by the various American people if one of the most controversial and divisive presidents in recent memory were forced out of office? What would the over-under on the amount of times the race/victim card would be played if that happened? How many cities would be enveloped in riots and chaos? How many people would be injured or even killed in relation to the anger that would stem from this poisonous dream? When the Watergate scandal forced Nixon out of office, the first act of President Gerald Ford was to forgo any thought of impeachment and instead elected to pardon his predecessor. When Ford explained the rationale of his decision, he explained that pardoning Nixon would avoid a long and controversial trial that would surely divide the nation.3 Put simply; the country is not in a place where it can survive the onslaughts of the race/victim baiters who would appear during the impeachment of the first African American President. I hate saying it, but there are simply too many wolves out there looking to prey on the sheep. Impeachment will only cause more problems than it will solve.
With the wolves in mind, it can be deduced that such an event would actually be beneficial to the left as they sell the importance of electing the first woman president, regardless of her record, to their base. Hillary Clinton, will most likely not have her name sullied by an Obama impeachment trial. Hillary, who was secretary of state for over five years, has been distancing herself from the sitting president since her resignation from the post in 2013. In fact, Clinton has been feeding the people a narrative of plausible deniability ever since!4 Consider this, if one were to prove that Obama is worthy of being unseated, Clinton could repurpose Obama’s successful ‘hope and change’ rhetoric to a narrative of leaving the corrupt Obama administration behind us. She could even claim that she left the cabinet because she perceived Obama’s nefarious nature all along. Demonizing Obama could place a halo on Hillary’s head. Really, that’s just handing the Left a handful of cards to play against us next fall. Hillary got where she is because she is very good at convincing the people to believe what she tells them. How much ammo do you want to give her?
Impeaching Barack Obama is the white whale of many in the Republican Party. If they are not careful, this obsession could be the ruination of the Grand Old Party for years to come. Impeachment could mean wasting precious political energy, dividing the country, and actually helping Hillary Clinton’s 2016 bid for the White House. I understand that firing Obama is a big, shiny, and attractive prize for many conservatives. I really do…honest. But, focusing solely on him will take your eyes off the big picture. Obama’s gone in a year and a half. Let’s unite to elect the right replacement.
- http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/18734.html
- http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/president-andrew-johnson-impeached
- https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/seventies/resources/president-ford%E2%80%99s-statement-pardoning-richard-nixon-1974
- http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/apr/21/wh-clinton-claim-small-business-stalled-valid/
The Elephant's Conscience: Thoughts From a Young Conservative 