Republicans now have Obama right where Obama wants them to.
And consider the odd situation in which that leaves the President. As much as he has been under attack from Republicans over executive authority, he has a political incentive to bait Republicans into talking more about impeachment, which would both build pressure for it within the GOP and force them to deny it to the media. The best way for him to do so is to take more unilateral action on issues like immigration. That would incense Republicans, who would then rush to the cameras to decry his lawlessness, which would lead journalists to ask them whether they’re going to impeach him, which would lead them to tie themselves in knots denying it. Obama would get both the policy results he wants and the political benefit of making his opponents look like they’re about to drag the country into a repeat of the farce of 1998.
So yes, the talk of impeachment is in part a plot by the White House. But they’re only exploiting the pressure that exists within the GOP — pressure that John Boehner and the rest of the party leadership helped create. And if you think you’ve seen Republicans squirming uncomfortably over the question up until now, just you wait.
WashingtonPost.com
Bold text added by the diarist
I'd strongly encourage you to read the whole piece by Paul Waldman quoted above. It clearly illustrates that Obama now has a clear incentive to troll the shit out of extremist Republicans who hate him more than they love America.
Because Republicans decided on the day of Obama's first inauguration to oppose everything this President does. Their goal was to sabotage Obama's Presidency and America's recovery for their own political gain.
Even if that would hurt average Americans
Especially if that would hurt average Americans and impede our nation's economic recovery. That way they can run on the outrage they themselves created.
Even if they previously supported the idea Obama was trying to pass into law.
And that worked in 2010. It also failed miserably in 2012.
Now it is 2014 and the GOP strategy seems to be "Second term, same as the first"
Oppose everything, watch NOTHING improve, hobble Obama's second term. And blame the lack of progress on, you guessed it, Obama.
But Obama is NOT going along with it.
He is using the powers available to him as Chief Executive to get shit done, with or without a recalcitrant, petty partisan driven GOP House of Representatives.
So sue me
Or impeach me
Which the GOP has (sued him)
Which countless wingnuts claim they should (impeach him)
Now, unless Sarah Palin is a Democratic plant it is laughable to say that all of this impeachment talk started with Obama's WH. Impeaching Obama is a laughable proposal outside the GOP, kind of like every other GOP idea.
But just because no one outside the GOp takes it seriously doesn't mean the GOP base won't cling to it until the bitter end (see Palin, Sarah)
For years the GOP has been saying Obama is lawless, a tyrant, a dictator, and weak, or whatever. Whatever they can get to stick to a wall. The problem is NONE OF THAT CRAP will stick to a wall outside of the sound proof echo chamber that is the GOP's incestuously amplified corporate media machine.
At the beginning of Obama's second term The Heritage Foundation advised Congressional Republicans to ditch all the governing bullshit and stick to inventing scandals. All of those nothing burger scandals have FAILED to resonate with anyone outside the GOP echo chamber. Let's take a look at some of those failed GOP noise machine trumped up "Scandals".
IRS "scandal" = FAIL
#BENGHAZI!!1!!! = FAIL
Bundy Ranch = racist outburst + FAIL
Bergdahl = FAIL, fizzled out in a week
Obamacare won't help anyone = FAIL
and on and on it goes.
The GOP has tried to avoid governing as much as they can. But that lack of desire to do government stuff ran head first into the wall that the GOP wants to build on the Mexican border.
Because the GOP's newest self-manufactured "Crisis" was along the southern border. OMG! there are immigrants and refugees coming here! Aren't you southern state white people who fear and loath immigrants angry?, asked Republicans. Why won't Obama do something said the screechweasels on the right!?!?
So Obama started saying he would "do something"
And that made the screechweasels screech even louder.
How dare Obama do things?!? He isn't the "Decider". He is a tyrant or something, and Republicans started whipping up their hardcore base with promises of impeachable offenses that Republicans are entirely incapable of articulating without using terms so vague it might appear at the bottom of a credit card agreement.
This leaves President Obama in the perfect position to keep Rope-a-Doping these GOP clowns as hard as he wants to.
GOP won't pass any immigration laws? Obama can issue some executive orders. Shit will get done. Democratic constituencies will appreciate those moves, it will infuriate the GOP base further, increasing the demands for impeaching Obama over arggle barrgle something something, which will remind Dem voters to get off their asses and vote in 2014, and so on and so forth.
So Very Serious Republicans like Paul Ryan say Impeachment talk is a 'ridiculous game"
Guess what, fuckface, YOU BUILT THAT. Don't come whining to the rest of us when that thing Republicans built blows up in the face of Republicans.
And Obama knows it.
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