Impeachment

It's clear as to why John Boehner gave an unequivocal "no" on the impeachment question--rank politics.  Let's face it, he's not a principled conservative, he's a political playa who understands the game.  And the game continues to be using pushback (proposed or actual) against the president as an example of racism and hate.  Democrats know the Tea Party exists on principle.  Game playing isn't something they do well.  So they can be gamed. 

That's why we get stuff like this:



The prez is a playa, too.  He's such a playa he's managed to make some believe he's not a playa. He needs enthusiasm, anger and spirit from those who typically don't come out to vote in a mid-term election.  So he uses canards and race cards to stoke the flame, hoping for the best. It also helps him to divide the opposition, something else Boehner knows.  Let's face it, Democrats don't care about means, it's the ends that count.  Winning keeps the hope and change train rolling, American institutions be damned if they get in the way. 

Impeachment?  No Speaker should ever remove it from the table.  An actual constitutional scholar, Jonathan Turley, has outlined the abuses of power he claims have brought our system of government close to a tipping point.  So yes, some non-racist individuals have been talking about the executive abuses and others have discussed the constitutional remedy. This is racist?   Whether the abuse has reached a level of 'high crimes and misdemeanors' yet is debatable, probably not--but Boehner knows he can't do much more than offer a lawsuit against the first black president or risk losing it all.  It's ugly, but shrewd.   

Speaking of rank politics, it's funny how the president was painted as a constitutional scholar during the 2008 campaign.  They were clearly using it to contrast him with the evil Bush, who everyone accused of having an "imperial presidency" with a "unitary executive".  Now that Obama has said that abusing his power is just "doing my job" and that his opponents are 'hatin' for actually doing the job they were elected to do, nobody is mentioning those C-V credentials anymore.