alternative hippopotamus

progressive cyberdadaism from our nation’s capital

June 20, 2007

The I Word

by AltHippo @ 2:43 pm. Filed under tba2007

Earlier today at TBA in a session titled Curbing the Imperial Presidency, Bob Fertik asked panelist Joe Conason about the possibility of impeaching the president. Joe responded that bringing up the impeachment of either the president or the vice president would be a mistake politically, but that it would be appropriate to look at impeaching the AG.

I hear Joe Conason’s sentiment expressed fairly often. Since he’s a very bright guy I’m surprised he doesn’t see the implications of his statement. If impeachment is not there as an option, there’s no mechanism to hold the Executive branch accountable. In most administrations the idea of appearing to be defying the law would be such a significant check that this alone would prevent an executive and his advisors from openly breaking laws passed by Congress.

As it turns out, this isn’t most administrations.

As Think Progress notes:

Federal agencies ignored 30 percent of the laws Bush objected to in signing statements last year, according to a report released today by the Government Accountability Office. In 2006, President Bush issued signing statements for 11 out of the 12 appropriations bills passed by Congress, claiming a right to bypass a total of 160 provisions in them.

The president, as head of the Executive branch, directs heads of the agencies to follow his signing statements rather than the laws as passed by Congress. Agency heads have the choice of obeying the president, or obeying the law, in which case they might lose their jobs.

And, what exactly is Congress’ remedy for this? Passing more laws? I think you can see the problem.

Aside from impeachment, the only option is expressing public disdain for the president’s actions, and hope that the accumulation of disdain results in the president turning over a new leaf. Quantum mechanically, that’s discribed as a zero probability event.

Part of my concern here is that when Joe Conason dismisses Bob Fertik in a forum like this, he’s telling him to sit down, be quiet, and keep his hands folded in his lap. The president is not accountable, and those who would like to see accountability should get over it.

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hip·po·pot·a·mus n. A notion, perhaps distinct from conventional wisdom, that needs to be verified by reality-based scrutiny.

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