The Promise Breakers

It should be an impeachable offense to substantively mislead the nation's voters during one’s campaign for president. Perhaps there could be a board made up of the heads of the top dozen major universities, non-senile former presidents and vice-presidents, and the anchors of the major networks, PBS and CNN. If warranted, they could have a secret ballot calling for impeachment – which it would take a two-thirds majority to approve. The matter would then be sent to the Congress for debate and disposition.

This current President Bush, for example, won office by saying he was a uniter, not a divider, that he was a compassionate conservative, that he would keep the budget in surplus, that he would respect the environment, that he was against foreign adventures in nation-building, that he would work with the Democrats in a bipartisan manner and that he would respectfully seek the cooperation of our allies around the world. Since his father stood for most of those things, it was easy to believe him. Many saw him as just a somewhat dimmer version of George H.W., someone who would serve the country in a steadfast manner, holding strong in the values department and keeping congressional spending down.

What we got instead was someone who broke all of the above-listed promises, and others as well, and did so with an arrogance rarely seen, even in the ego-circus of Washington. If the Democrats had managed to win control of the House and Senate in 2004, we would have by now seen Bush and Cheney both impeached.