It was only a matter of time until the other shoe dropped after word leaked out that Speaker of the House John Boehner is planning on suing President Obama. It turns out, the lawsuit is the first step in a plan to impeach the president if Republicans take back the Senate.
Yesterday, Boehner told his fellow House Republicans that he will be suing President Obama over his use of executive orders. Boehner didn’t know which executive orders he would sue over, but he is certain that he will be suing. On its surface, the lawsuit looks like more Republican sour grapes over the fact that Barack Obama is president, but Jonathan Capehart of The Washington Post started putting a few pieces together, and what is emerging is a plan to impeach Obama.
Capehart writes what everyone knows about the Republican plan to crush President Obama, “The plan all along has been to crash the Obama agenda and then climb on top of the wreckage and seize power. Not only are Republicans complicit in the “failures” they rail against, but they are also the reason the president has had to resort to executive action to get some things done. Even (George) Will agrees Obama is within his authority to do this. He just doesn’t like the degree to which he has done it.”
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If Boehner and the Republicans won in court, they would be able to claim that President Obama violated the law with his executive orders. The door would then be open for Republicans to pursue impeaching the president.
The point is that Boehner and the Republicans are suing Obama because they don’t like his presidency. Even conservatives like George Will admit that President Obama was within his legal authority to use the executive orders. Congressional Republicans have abused their investigative powers (Issa, Darrell), spending powers (debt ceiling, and government shutdown), and now they are preparing to abuse their impeachment powers.
Republicans failed twice to defeat Obama at the ballot box. They have failed to stop the Obama agenda through obstruction, and now with nothing left to lose, they are plotting a hostile takeover of the White House.
The problem for Republicans is that even if they take back control of the Senate, they won’t have the two-thirds majority needed to convict and impeach the president. Anyone who remembers the Clinton impeachment trial can recall the circus that Republicans transformed our national politics into. Republicans could use an Obama impeachment trial to try to stop Hillary Clinton’s march to the White House, but this tactic is likely to backfire and sweep both Clinton and the Democrats back into power.
The election this November is more important than ever. More than just the control of the Senate, the future of the Obama presidency depends on your votes on Election Day. A Republican controlled Senate could mean Obama impeachment.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
