By MARSHA MERCER
The front-page headline in the New York Post blared:
“PELOSI BLINKS.”
A smaller one read: “`He’s just not worth it,’ says
speaker.”
He, of course, is President Donald Trump. House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi made headlines Tuesday when she said, “I’m not for
impeachment.”
Did she blink? Hardly.
Pelosi has been playing down impeachment talk since
she became speaker, urging Democrats to wait for various investigations to
yield hard evidence before rushing to impeach.
Her comments made news because the interview with Joe
Heim in The Washington Post Magazine, published Monday, was the first time she stated
her position so succinctly to a reporter.
Some in Trump’s camp evidently felt comforted by
Pelosi’s comments.
“I’m glad she sees what the rest of us see, that there
is no reason, no cause for impeachment,” White House Press Secretary Sarah
Sanders said on Fox News, typically mischaracterizing what Pelosi said.
Trump, taking the role of victim, cries harassment and
calls all investigations a witch hunt.
No one should labor under the delusion Pelosi is
giving Trump a Get out of Jail Free card.
Asked if Trump is fit to be president, she said no, he
is “ethically unfit. Intellectually unfit. Curiosity-wise unfit.”
Pelosi wants Trump out, but the canny strategist wants
to oust him the old-fashioned way – through the electoral process.
She also wants Democrats to retain control of the
House and regain the Senate. The last may be wishful thinking, but none of her
goals has a prayer if Democrats lose sight of their policy agenda and alienate a
wide swath of the electorate, especially
independent and moderate voters in
swing districts.
Impeachment would draw attention away from such
Democratic goals as reducing prescription drug costs and ending gender
discrimination in the workplace.
So Pelosi has slowed the impeachment train, although some
congressional Democrats, like Rep. Al Green of Texas, who first introduced an articles
of impeachment resolution in January 2017, and some House freshmen vow to continue
their efforts.
Pelosi’s statement provides political cover for Rep.
Jerrold Nadler of New York, who heads the House Judiciary Committee, and other
Democratic chairmen who face pressure to impeach.
Billionaire activist Tom Steyer, who reportedly plans
to spend $40 million in the 2020 election cycle to get Trump impeached, has run
ads in Nadler’s and others’ districts, urging them to get on with it.
Nadler launched a sweeping investigation into possible
wrongdoing by Trump and has said he believes Trump has committed obstruction of
justice. But Nadler said he needs to gather evidence.
The constitutional grounds for impeachment are not
whether one finds the president personally odious or his policies wrong-headed.
The grounds are “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”
It takes time to build a case and the necessary public
support for such a wrenching take-down. President Richard Nixon held on and did
not resign until Republican congressional leaders broke the bad news that he
was about to be impeached.
Voting to impeach Trump prematurely would be the
political equivalent of downing a large piece of chocolate lava cake while
dieting – delicious in the moment but ultimately a self-defeating indulgence.
The reality is even if the House were to vote to
impeach Trump, a trial in the Senate would not remove him from office, not at
this point with a GOP majority, and failed impeachment could redound to the
benefit of Republicans.
Pelosi was in the House when Republicans impeached
President Bill Clinton, failed in the Senate to remove him from office – and lost
seats in the next election.
Pelosi did leave the door ajar for impeachment of
Trump someday, but said it’s so divisive it should be avoided “unless there’s
something so compelling and bipartisan.”
Compelling and bipartisan are good standards. There’s
also a question of timing.
Unless
impeachment proceedings take place this year, 2020 may be too late. Impeachment
proceedings would take over the campaign and incite Trump voters.
Pelosi likes to quote Lincoln: “Public sentiment is
everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed.”
If Democrats want to succeed, they should listen to and
trust the experienced Nancy Pelosi.
©2019 Marsha Mercer. All rights reserved.
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