Opinion polls indicate that public support for impeachment is at a high point. But whether this idea runs along partisan lines is to miss the point. Bush & Cheney are the architects of a massive increase in executive powers and they achieved it long before the latest outrages, namely Cheney’s assertion that the Office of the VP is not part of the executive branch and that executive privilege universally trumps the Congress’ power to investigate. The Constitutional check to the potential despotism of the executive branch is the rarely used power of impeachment. According to John Nichols if there was ever a time to use it, that time is now, I think this quote neatly sums up what is at stake:
“On January 20th, 2009, if George Bush and Dick Cheney are not appropriately held to account this Administration will hand off a toolbox with more powers than any President has ever had, more powers than the founders could have imagined. And that box may be handed to Hillary Clinton or it may be handed to Mitt Romney or Barack Obama or someone else. But whoever gets it, one of the things we know about power is that people don’t give away the tools.” — John Nichols
For more on this see Tough Talk on Impeachment.
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