It won’t happen due to his all-important carte noire. But as George Will points out, by past standards, there is little question that Obama now merits impeachment on the basis of the IRS actions:
George Will joined the chorus talking about the prospect of impeachment for President Barack Obama after last week’s admission from the Internal Revenue Service that it had targeted groups with the phrases “tea party” or “patriot” in their tax-exempt applications for extra audits….
Will noted that one of the items in the 1973 impeachment articles of then-President Richard Nixon, which ultimately led to his resignation, described the Nixon administration’s use of the power of income tax audits in a “discriminatory matter.”
“This is the 40th anniversary of the Watergate summer here in Washington,” Will said. “’He has, through his subordinated and agents, endeavored…to cause, in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, income tax audits or other income tax investigation to be initiated or conducted in a discriminatory manner,’ — Section 1, Article 2, the impeachment articles of Richard Nixon.
Now, I very much doubt Obama knew anything about the audits; I doubt he knows very much about what is going on under the aegis of “his” administration. He has never been anything more than a tool for certain Chicago interests and their allies. But he is still nominally in charge, he is still the man sitting in the Oval Office, and he is therefore responsible for the actions of the administration.