Posted on 07/12/2014 1:17:32 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
No matter how many ways I say this, I’m going to get the usual “RINO!” reaction. I’ll give you the caveat as plainly as I can: this is not an article for or against the impeachment of Barack Obama.
Now, no matter how forcefully I say it, there is still a faction on the right who will take my failure to immediately call for Obama’s impeachment as their chance to damn me as a RINO, a traitor, a fifth-columnist, a secret Obama supporter, a squish, and a sellout to the Evil Establishment. So before you lose your grip, reread the first paragraph carefully. This is not an argument for or against the impeachment of Barack Obama.
While one can certainly make the argument Obama has committed impeachable offenses, his political opponents are not capable of pulling off impeachment in the current political climate, even if they want to. It may be right to. You may think that this is the final way to teach this haughty, terrible, lawless President the lesson he sorely deserves, but you’re wrong.
You can’t pull it off. Both the Congressional Republican establishment and the Tea Party caucus lack the skills, discipline, and planning to impeach Barack Obama. It’s not because Boehner and leadership are squishes. It’s not because the Tea Party caucus is too undisciplined to plan a barbecue. The reason is more serious.
No one has a plan. There is no strategy. There’s no roadmap for the months-long process that would become the center of American political life to the exclusion of every other issue. Bluster and self-indulgence isn’t a strategy (“Don’t blink!”), but it does play into some separate venality and political ambition. There’s a ravenous hunger for clicks and donations on email lists [DONATE HERE OR THE REPUBLIC WILL FALL]. There’s a desire my some future Presidential candidates to out hard-ass other Republicans prior to 2016. But is there a plan? Of course not.
Give me your elevator pitch, not for impeachment qua impeachment, but for how the story plays out from the announcement to Obama mounting the steps of Marine One and flashing a Nixonian farewell salute. What’s your Day One communication strategy when we begin impeachment proceedings? What’s the Day Two strategy? What’s the strategy after the first week? Who are the legislative handlers? Who are the key faces for the media? What’s the timetable, the media plan, the surrogate plan…all the boring block-and-tackle stuff? What happens when your rock-solid arguments melt under legal challenges from every quarter?
Did you remember there are other players in this game? Did you forget that the American people are notoriously fickle? Did you forget that the media still yields a mighty power to misrepresent, to distort, and to flat-out lie about what you’re trying to accomplish? What happens when this raises $50 million in online donation for the bad guys? What happens when they start dropping oppo like nukes on every member of the impeachment committee? What happens when Americans who are bored and restless decide you’re not talking about their lives, but just playing inside Washington games? What happens to the message strategy of every GOP House, Senate, and Governor candidate in the country? What happens when this doesn’t turn bring the White House to heel but instead becomes the only rallying cry that could wake Democrats from their post-Obama, post-Obamacare funk? What happens when Harry Reid slits your throat by not allowing the Senate to pass judgment.
This isn’t something you pull out of your back pocket. This has to be planned, war-gamed, and worked through. The DC boys will act with too much caution, and the Tea Party guys will act with none at all. But as with the shutdown, without a plan, it’s got “DISASTER” stamped on it in red letters.
Just as in the travesty in Mississippi, conservatives will wonder why everything they read on Breitbart or World Net Daily or GotNews didn’t magically change everything. They’ll wonder why magical thinking got its ass kicked by a bare-knuckle, operational campaign. They’ll wonder why the other side laughs at their Marquis of Queensbury rules and skates up to and over the edge of the law. They’ll wonder why their lack of discipline and failure to plan left them with nothing. They’ll wonder why the issues they see as so obvious, so compelling, and so damning didn’t translate to ordinary Americans. They’ll wonder how Obama could possibly escape with his popularity higher than when he started.
Just because Noted Political Strategist Sarah Palin says it, it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. Just because the American Patriot Tea Party Patriotic Front for Tea Party Patriotism’s emails promise we’ll impeach him if you’ll just click the donation button one more time doesn’t mean impeachment is practical or possible. If you proceed with impeachment without a comprehensive, aggressive, well-thought-out communications and political action plan, you will fail.
You will fail to impeach Barack Obama. You will fail to recapture the Senate. You will fail to turn his last two years in office into the living political hell he richly deserves. And when you fail, the Democrats and Barack Obama get to run their plan instead. They will run back into the welcoming and cozy embrace of their media allies. They will justify every new executive excess and overreach by blaming the GOP for impeachment. Obama will ignore and defy Congress like never before.
If it makes you feel even a little better, this is a Presidency that already reeks of failure. It is a Presidency that will go down in history as a rolling disaster led by a charismatic con man so vastly oversold to the public that it defies description. His failures are a shame and a stain on the Democratic Party that will ripple out for decades. He’ll go down as a historical oddity, a sideshow freak with a cult of devotees divorced from reality. He’s politically dead already, but he’s too prideful to lay down and start stinking.
As I said the beginning I’m not making a judgment over whether we should impeach Barack Obama or not. That’s a legal question above my pay grade. But if Republicans and conservatives continue to make this a part of their message without a more complete plan than we’ve shown we’re capable of producing this far, expect the worst. We’ll be wasting bandwidth and political capital talking about a half-assed, hypothetical impeachment plan that will hurt us more than it will hurt him.
A plan beats no plan, every time.
George Washington warned Americans about the evils of party.
When we let election strategies trump doing the right thing, we set party above principle and deal a mortal blow to the republic.
Rick Wilson makes some very good points, all of which should be acted on by the Republican leadership. We need a good plan of action to impeach Obama.
Is Boehner preparing a plan for impeachment? Will he ever? I doubt it. He’s another Trent Lott. Boehner is the problem and any plan should include GOP leadership that will be effective in dealing with the Dims, the media and working the process.
There’s nothing to gain by starting impeachment procedures before November. We should use the time to prepare the impeachment plan, which should be implemented win or lose this November.
Palin is going a good job prepping the battlefield. Go Sarah!
Well, then. What we need is a “...comprehensive, aggressive, well-thought-out communications and political action plan...”
> this is not an article for or against the impeachment of Barack Obama.
Heh...
Why was the name of the Senate leader deleted (twice) in my post?
The devoted support of the MSM emboldened the Democrats to challenge Nixon (and GWB) on every front; the lack of media support paralyzes the Republicans. Until Americans tune out the MSM, this will be the case.
No action taken by mods.
Forget impeachment. When we hit critical mass which is coming soon just skip on to forcible removal and incarceration.
No thanks, we already had one in 08.
Look at Thailand
It has been a great thing for their entire society . So far .
It immediately reigned in all the politicos and put the wing nuts in check .
However our situation is much more dire , much more than just domestic issues , as bad as many of those are . The future safety and security of the entire world depends on how we continue to engage the threat of radical islamist terrorism , and most of those in our current political structure and processes are utterly failing in this urgent mission . So I ask , how valuable is the status quo and business as usual when so much is at stake . How valid are the oaths that have been sworn to those that have proven to be so utterly undeserving of that respect and honor ? What future do we risk if we are too afraid to change the present ?
there was no ‘coup’ in 2008 ...I was on the front lines of that one . There was a corrupted media , there was a well organized Leftist entity known as the Democrat Party and there was a feckless old man who had forgotten how to fight , how to really fight . And there was one awesome ,courageous woman whom we as Americans failed to fully support when she was being savaged by the minions of evil .
Face it , our American political system is broken beyond repair . The Constitution needs to be updated and re-invigorated and there needs to be huge penalties for treason in office in this country . We have been reduced to little more than helpless sheep , powerless under the weight of the corruptors
Indeed, im really at a loss as to what sort of “plan” hes expecting?
Does he want a detailed case by case strategy of everything that could happen, and how to deal with it agreed upon by everyone?
I admit it would be nice but the mere existence and wide spread knowledge of such a plain would undermined the same plan as it would invariably be leaked to the press and their democratic allies who would promptly find and exploit its weaknesses.
Which of course is in itself a good plan if you wish to them to react in such a way, in presuit to anther plan.
As for the issue of impeachment you simply need to lay out a legal case and carry out a vote. Admittedly then the media will tear us apart for having the audacity to suggest that some of Obama’s actions were downright illegal and impeachable. No doubt the race card will be played once more as it always it is very much a stable in democratic politics particularly when someone not white is even tangentially involved. and of course no doubt all of this will be used by the democrat press to label the impeachment as racist without even addressing the legal case behind the impeachment.
You want a good plan to deal with that, im all ears, although i think it wise if you don’t share it with anyone but our leaders and spokespersons.
I will stick with my definition, just because it was bloodless, doesn't mean a coup was not accomplished.
I am and always have been a big Palin supporter.
When the campaign was going on it was easy enough to see that Obama was a Marxist and if elected he had no plan to leave, he may leave but, he does not plan to.
After the last election we must realize that one of two things are true.
1. We have became a Communist/Socialist nation or
2. Massive vote fraud is manipulatig our election process.
I’ll with suggestion #2
I think we all realize at this point that vote fraud was massive and it was the deciding factor in both elections..
Who comes after Boner?
Patrick Leahy and then John Kerry.
“Impeachment is a gross waste of time, effort, and finances. “
I agree with this.
I think our best strategy is to run against “government incompetence”.
Let voters tie democrats to government incompetence - the examples are legion by now.
Don’t run against any programs, any philosophy or any ideology - just focus on “Incompetence” and bring the latest examples.
I think that’s the only way to win with misguided and confused voters at this point.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.