“I do solemnly swear to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
These were the words of Barack Obama when he twice took the presidential oath.
Some think he has forgotten their meaning and want him impeached.
The grounds for impeachment are set forth in Article II Section 4 of the Constitution,
“The President … shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” Sarah Palin thinks Obama’s “many impeachable offenses ... can no longer be ignored ...”and that if “he’s not impeachable, then no one is.”
Palin is not alone.
Several Republican members of congress agree including Sens. James Inhofe, R-Okla., Tom Coburn, R-Okla., Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah.
But, House speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio disagrees and instead prefers to file a law suit challenging Obama’s abuse of executive power.
Even the U.S. Supreme Court has pushed Obama back on his overreaching. It has rendered several unanimous opinions overturning Obama executive fiats in a number of areas. Also, federal courts are doing the same on key aspects of his Obamacare.
Although Palin’s comments were at first discounted by the political establishment, including the speaker, many are having second thoughts. While Democrats are almost daring Republicans to impeach Obama and most Republicans run the other way, things may change.
Why?
Rumor has it that the imperial president is planning to unilaterally grant 5 million illegal immigrants citizenship — without congressional approval — when Congress goes on summer recess.
Coupled with the actions of the Supreme Court, would such an act be considered a high
crime or misdemeanor?
The second article of impeachment of Richard Nixon was for abusing the IRS (sound familiar Lois Lerner?) and for Clinton the abuse of power.
If the amnesty rumor becomes reality it could be the match that ignites an impeachment fire.
Just imagine 5 million more competitors for American jobs.
With a stroke of the presidential pen, Obama would give a huge slap in the face to millions of unemployed black Americans who thought he would be their savior as well as millions of struggling middle class whites and legal Hispanics who thought that he would understand their needs and feel their pain — after all he was black and would be understanding.
Such an action would be the height of abuse of presidential power.
As Georgetown University law professor Stewart Turley told the House Judiciary Committee, “The problem with what the president is doing is that he's not simply posing a danger to the constitutional system. He's becoming the very danger the Constitution was designed to avoid.”
Well professor, it seems that the best is yet to come.
If Obama goes ahead and issues such an executive order or takes other Administrative action to accomplish the same, it will be much more than an example of an imperial presidency — it will be reminiscent of Third World leaders who treat their legislative branches as mere ornaments — with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Cal. as willing accomplices.
Although the Chinese, North Koreans, Iranians and Putin may not respect this president, they certainly must chuckle in private how he has taken a page from their own totalitarian playbooks.
They must also smile at how the American major media, like theirs, compliantly bows at his feet as do theirs to them.
If you think that the border crisis is bad now, just wait until the word of such an executive order ripples throughout central and South America.
It will be, “Katie bar the door.”
Meanwhile, what will be the reaction of most black Democrats, civil rights groups and political leaders to such an assault on their constituents’ economic, healthcare and educational well-being?
Silence.
Obama may be leading from behind internationally, but when it comes to immigration policies that will dilute black political and economic power at home — such as any action granting illegals citizenship, he is out front.
For those who will cry racism, they should be reminded that if the shoe were on a white Republican presidential foot, they would be leading the impeachment army yelling that the president is not “preserving, defending or protecting the Constitution of the United States.”
As with Nixon and Clinton, the question for Obama is and will be whether he,
“in disregard of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed … has repeatedly engaged in conduct violating the constitutional rights of citizens, impairing the due and proper administration of justice and the conduct of lawful inquiries, or contravening the laws governing agencies of the executive branch and the purposed of these agencies."
As to Richard Nixon, the Article included that he, “acting personally and through his subordinates … endeavored to obtain from the Internal Revenue Service … confidential information contained in income tax returns … and to cause…violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, income tax audits or other income tax investigations to be initiated or conducted in a discriminatory manner.”
That last one looks like a winner given that the IRS and Departments of State and Justice appear to be covering up more than a camper caught in an Alaskan blizzard.
Add to this recipe an Executive Order granting amnesty to millions, and the impeachment egg might just hatch.
Clarence V. McKee is president of McKee Communications, Inc., a government, political, and media relations consulting firm in Florida. He held several positions in the Reagan administration as well as in the Reagan presidential campaigns and has appeared on many national and local media outlets. Read more reports from Clarence V. McKee — Click Here Now.
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