All this talk of impeaching the president is the stupidest Republican political strategy so far this century.
Sure, anybody can make a strong argument that President Obama is one of the worst presidents in modern history. All the hope and change he promised in 2008 have turned into bitter despair and misery.
On the domestic front, while unemployment figures are not as bad as they once were, anybody who thinks the economy is humming along has not looked around. Even the president is left limply hailing the bubble-struck stock market as evidence of good times.
The welfare set are poorer off. Peggy Joseph, of Internet fame, enthusiastically endorsed Mr. Obama because, she said, he would “pay for my gas and my mortgage.” Now she says she was misled by the smooth-talking pol.
“He was not who we thought or expected him to be,” Ms. Joseph told filmmaker Joel Gilbert. “Truth and honesty are important. He lied about everything.”
The wizard of false promises has similarly snookered tens of thousands of families across South and Central America who have piled their precious children onto “Death Trains” to the U.S. believing that the president has promised citizenship to any and all who can make it to our borders. This, in turn, has led to an outbreak in the Western Hemisphere of child rape, murder and human slavery, an astonishing feat for just one president.
At some point, when you are this misunderstood by this many people, it just might be time for a little introspection about how you are talking to people. But that would require a mustard seed of humility.
Overseas, the world is on fire.
Our old Soviet nemesis is back on the march. The Muslim world boils hotter than ever. Iraq and Afghanistan are lost. Christians flee for their lives. And one of our closest allies in the world is at war with Hamas terrorists and, somehow, this administration has managed to alienate — not the enemy, not the terrorists — but our democratic, freedom-loving ally.
In terms of his official duties, a fairly incontrovertible case can be made that he has failed to keep his oath and uphold the Constitution. In fact, he has done much to shred it. Just ask his own justices on the Supreme Court.
Indeed, the case for impeaching President Obama is a very easy case to make. Even a child can be heard making the argument. “OMG: Obama Must Go!”
But Republicans in Congress must also remember their own limitations. Pursuing and succeeding at the ugly business of impeachment requires winning a political argument. This is not the GOP’s strong suit.
Winning a political argument means you have your message handy at all times, you stick to it, and you deliver it with good will and even charm. You cannot sound like a carping politician and win an argument like this.
If we have learned nothing else from the past few miserable elections, it is that Republicans really are not very good at, well, politics. As we saw during the latest Mississippi Senate race, the only people Republicans seem to be able to beat are other Republicans.
Lord help us if they have to actually beat somebody else. And Lord help them if they actually think they can win an argument as thorny and fissile as the impeachment of America’s first black president.
The Democratic Party owes its entire existence to capitalizing on victimhood, and an impeachment trial would cast this president as the hounded victim. Nobody thrives on victimization like this president.
And there is nothing the media loves more than willing victims. Just look at their atrocious coverage of the Middle East, always propping up terrorists in Gaza as somehow legitimate combatants in a morally equivalent fight.
Truth is, House Speaker John Boehner is exactly right. This whole thing is a scam. The only people really talking up impeachment these days is the White House and Democrats.
That is because compared to the economy, national security, world peace, the scandals and everything else, impeaching the leader of their party qualifies as “good news.”
Charles Hurt can be reached at charleshurt@live.com, and on Twitter @charleshurt.
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