In any other time in history, Bush and Cheney would have been forced to resign.
While these individuals may indeed deserve the Dick Nixon treatment, it’s neither realistic nor pragmatic. Partisanship vs. Pragmatism, the democrats are the party of pragmatism, the republicans, ideology. As a party our strongest moments come in our clear headed solution to problems, New Deal, Great Society. To impeach Bush would seem to go against our basic principle, governing sensibly. We just won an election because the other side could not govern, we were elected to govern. We were not elected to impeach and ideologize. We were elected to solve, not to strain. We need to use the chance we were given to show the nation what governing looks like. Making proposals, bills, fixing a problem, that’s a real government. It’s a government for and by the people, not the party. As the Bill Clinton episode showed, reenacting the Salem Witch Hunts does not go very far. In these two years we must lay the ground work for 08, illustrating what a democratic run country would be like. People know what we won’t do; now they want to know what we will do. Impeaching, while our country sinks deeper into debt, impeaching while soldiers die in Karbala, impeaching when we have real work to do, will prove we are no better than republicans were in 98. 2006 was a year of realignment, realignment away from ideology and towards realism. Realignment away from not holding the hand, that holds you down. Instead of laying groundwork for impeachment, we should be laying ground work for fixing the debt, solving Iraq, and the road to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Putting pragmatism over the party is the most democratic thing you can do.