Kucinich Wants Obama Impeached

Dennis Kucinich

Posted on March 21, 2011 by Glenn Church

DennisKucinich wants to impeach Barack Obama. The Ohio Congressman believesthat Obama violated the Constitution by attacking Libya. His particularpoint of contention is that only Congress has the power to declare war. 


In 2009, Kucinich announced his intention to invoke the 1973 WarPowers Act and bring the troops home from Afghanistan. That did not goanywhere, which shows how marginalized Kucinich is even within theDemocratic Party.

Obama did consult with some members of Congress in what has been describedmore as a “cattle call” than a consultation. Even House Speaker JohnBoehner believes that Obama needs to do more with consulting Congress. 

The difference is that Boehner has all his screws tightened, Kucinich, on the other hand, is…well, Kucinich.

With six months to go in George W. Bush’s second term, Dennis Kucinich introduced 35 articles of impeachment. The year before he triedto impeach Dick Cheney. That failed so he moved onto Bush. If Kucinichhad succeeded then the man he thought should have been removed asVice-President would have become President. Kucinich was probably theonly person in America who wanted to see Dick Cheney become President.

Onto 2011 and Kucinich is once again discussing impeachment, but this time of a fellow Democrat. 

Kucinich hasbeen a harsh critic of Obama continuing many of the Bush administrationpolicies, but this step sets him permanently into the gadfly hall offame.

Obama hasnot done anything different than other Presidents have done for years.In today’s world of fast-changing events and instant communications, itis nearly impossible to follow the procedure to war as definedoriginally in the Constitution. Part of the reason is that the militaryactions now undertaken by the United States are beyond any imagined bythe Founding Fathers. 

It is adifferent world with instant communications. The biggest victory of theWar of 1812 was fought after a peace treaty was signed. Today, theworld can be destroyed within 30 minutes by firing nuclear missiles.Presenting a resolution of war while Gaddafi walks through Bengazi,slaughters his people and the rest of the Libyan rebels is quaint.
As with all other powers defined in the Constitution, this one too has led to modern interpretations.

Congressstill has the authority to stop a military action. However, to rely onthe War Powers Act to enforce consultations, which is of questionableconstitutionality itself, is a weak-legged stool to stand upon. Evendrawing upon the Constitution’s language that Congress has the power todeclare war is an unsteady argument.

Kucinich revealedhis own foreign policy naivety by releasing a press release last weekcriticizing Obama for not recognizing Muammar Gaddafi’s call for aceasefire. Gaddafi may have called for that, but he never recognized ithimself. It seems the only person who recognized it was Kucinich.

Outside of ahandful of other liberals of Kucinich’s ilk and isolationistRepublicans like Ron Paul, no one will take Kucinich seriously. 

Like thebirthers on the right, Kucinich makes a convenient left-wing foil forBarack Obama. It makes Obama appear moderate, even conservatives rallyto support Obama on this one when Kucinich begins to spout off withnonsense of impeachment.

In the end,none of this bluster will amount to anything. This may be posturing byKucinich who ran for president in 2004 and 2008. It has long been mycontention that Obama will face a challenge from the left for hisrenomination. Bill Clinton is the only Democratic incumbent not to facea significant challenge in his own party, unless one wants to considerLyndon LaRouche, who is Gaddafi-like crazy, as significant.

This may be the opening bell for another Kucinich presidential campaign.