Calls to impeach President Obama have been ringing out for months, yet no action has been taken. And none should be taken. In spite of the widely held opinion that it would serve the best interests of the country to remove him from office, to date, there has been no credible, factual evidence presented that Obama has committed an impeachable offense.
It remains unlikely that such evidence will appear. While accusations fly about concerning Obama’s involvement in numerous scandals, it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible to find a smoking gun and metaphorically place it in Obama’s hand. He can accomplish his goals by simply maintaining his leadership style which treats accountability as an unnecessary evil to be invoked only when necessary for political posturing.
Consider the IRS scandal. In June, The Huffington Post (of all places) reported, “An inspector general's report last month said IRS agents improperly targeted conservative political groups for additional scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status during the 2010 and 2012 election campaigns.”
Later reports indicate that conservative groups weren’t the only ones targeted by the IRS. If nothing else, that’s good cover for an anti-conservative agenda, however, it’s highly unlikely that any directives from the administration needed to be given. Bureaucrats within the IRS knew oversight was seriously lacking, and they also knew it would please the boss if they put his opposition under the microscope.
In his July 24, 2013 speech, Obama said, “With an endless parade of distractions and political posturing and phony scandals, Washington’s taken its eye off the ball”. What he failed to mention is that the scandals are real, and the only “phony” aspect is a proven direct link to the White House. The lack of such a link has provided Democrats with a convenient mechanism for denying any culpability on the part of the Obama administration. It has also provided the left with a reasonable argument that there is no basis for impeachment.
As with the IRS scandal, it’s unlikely there is any direct link between Obama and impropriety within the NSA. Once again, lack of accountability has encouraged a group of bureaucrats to run wild. Certainly, privacy violations didn’t become epidemic overnight and just as certainly, NSA bureaucrats interpreted the administration’s blind eye as a wink and a nod to not merely continue, but to expand the scope of their snooping.
In scandal after scandal, the scenario is likely the same; the administration did not overtly direct or encourage improper and possibly illegal activities. It simply ignored them. In so doing, Obama may have solidified his position as the most inept president in history, but he also insulated himself from grounds for impeachment.
It seems apparent that Obama expects the same type of free pass from voters that he has extended to federal agencies. Thus far, his expectations have been realized. While many conservatives continue to rail for impeachment proceedings, liberals point to a lack of the concrete evidence that would justify such action. Consequently, outside of the conservative community, further calls for impeachment will be largely viewed as divisive witch hunting by the GOP. It would be far more productive to use the scandals to highlight the administration’s lack of concern with accountability, overblown bureaucracy and government excess—conditions that voters of all political affiliations should rally to correct.
