Some in GOP would like to impeach Obama

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By  Jennifer Steinhauer

THE NEW YORK TIMES Sunday August 25, 2013 10:32 AM

WASHINGTON — Rep. Kerry Bentivolio, a freshman Republican from Michigan, has a legislative dream — to put in motion the impeachment of President Barack Obama.“If I could write that bill and submit it, it would be a dream come true,” he said this month.
Bentivolio is hardly the only one with this desire.
While many members of Congress have used their August break to engage in conversations about immigration policy, the federal budget and the impending implementation of the Affordable Care Act, some Republicans have taken the opportunity to raise the specter of — if not quite the grounds for — presidential impeachment.
At least two other House Republicans told voters this month that the impeachment process could happen. And last week, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who has called himself a friend of the president’s, told constituents that the nation is “perilously close” to an impeachment situation.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, lamented to one voter who asked about the prospect of impeachment that the Senate, controlled by Democrats, probably would not yield the needed votes for conviction.
The lawmakers have not laid out any specific charges of high crimes and misdemeanors against Obama, though the health-care law and IRS scrutiny of applications by conservative groups for nonprofit status seem to be among the motivating factors.
Obama’s supporters seem short of terrified.
“The bottom line is that it would be enormously self-destructive for the Republicans to waste time on what is a plainly empty expression of primal, partisan rage,” said David Axelrod, a longtime adviser to Obama.
Nor does such an undertaking interest the speaker of the House, John Boehner, who aides said would countenance no such effort. “Republicans are going to keep our focus on creating jobs, cutting wasteful spending and repealing Obamacare,” said Kevin Smith, a spokesman for Boehner.
The issue, though, can be just the sort of red meat that constituents throw on the town-hall grill when meeting with members, especially in the most-conservative congressional districts.Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, a conservative former prosecutor, acknowledges that voters raise the issue with him, which he said he deflects with, “Have you met Joe Biden?” The exchange usually ends with laughter.