Impeachment calls: Destructive demagoguery
Jul 16, 2014, 9:00 AM | Updated: 9:00 am
When prominent conservatives talk publicly about impeaching Barack Obama they discredit themselves and strengthen the president. Everyone knows that he will never be removed from office: that would take 67 Senate votes. Even if Republicans took Senate control in November, and even if every one of them voted for impeachment, it would still take more than a dozen Democrats to vote against their own president – an impossibility.
An impeachment drive must bring one of two outcomes: failure or success. If it failed, it hurts Republicans by making them look like fanatical, time-wasting losers, while handing Obama an undeserved victory. And in the inconceivable event it succeeded, Joe Biden would become president—and be able to run in 2016 and even 2020 with a powerful built-in advantage.
Any politico who ignores this logic is a demented demagogue – putting a drive for personal attention above the party and the country.