Democrats calling for President Bush’s impeachment are taking the low road to November. The president is self-destructing all by himself, with a little help from the corruption scandal in Congress. Democrats may want vengeance for the Republicans’ squalid impeachment of President Clinton, but they’ll be better off if they focus on ideas for solving the nation’s huge problems rather than making a now impotent president even more so.
No question that lying to the nation to take us into war is a far greater crime than lying about sex. No question that impeaching President Clinton was an act of self-righteous demagoguery for purely political gain. But that impeachment paralyzed our government, which is something we cannot afford to do, particularly when the crises we face require a president to focus on them rather than on his own woes.
The most recent New York Times/CBS poll shows President Bush in a public opinion free-fall. He no longer has the nation’s confidence on any important issue, from the economy to oil prices to the war in Iraq. The public doesn’t trust him to deliver on health care or immigration. He is even losing voters’ confidence in his strongest area: his leadership in the battle against terrorists. Democrats don’t have to push him over the cliff of public opinion – he’s done it to himself.
Meanwhile, the Republican leadership in Congress has failed to constrain its own arrogance of power, allowing corruption to destroy its credibility. It’s pretty hard to claim the moral leadership of the nation when you can’t control the moral behavior of your own members. Lost in defending itself against scandals, the Republican House leadership cannot provide sensible solutions to the nation’s ills. Instead, it has resorted to politically divisive legislation, hoping to split the nation’s electorate to its own advantage. That has worked in the past, but it’s not working this time around.
Leadership should be a positive endeavor. Good leaders focus on solving problems, building consensus for difficult actions that ensure a better future, and enhancing the ability of their colleagues to do their jobs well. While it is certainly necessary for Democratic political leaders to hold the president accountable for his decisions and the Republican congressional leadership accountable for its party’s ethical lapses, that is not sufficient to guide the United States in a very turbulent and dangerous time. Ideas are far more important than accusations.
Now is a time, for example, when Democrats could forge bipartisan solutions to the biggest issues facing us. While House Republicans scream about criminalizing illegal immigrants, Democrats and Republicans in the Senate are searching for a more rational approach, one that recognizes the interests of businesses and consumers but also tightens our borders. Given his bleak outlook at the moment, the president has not been able to articulate a clear position on this battleground issue. Democrats need to fill that void with good ideas of their own.
Despite what the administration touts, the Iraq war is a mess. Even if Iraqis are successful in forming an inclusive government, one that survives long enough to provide some political stability, that is no guarantee that insurgents will give up their plans to destroy the country. The president has made only sporadic and half-hearted efforts to win international support for a way out in Iraq. The solutions may be a mix of bad choices. But there must be leadership in a debate about our options and how to orchestrate the best possible outcome to this morass. Democrats would be far better off talking about solutions instead of impeachment. They’d demonstrate real leadership if they sought bipartisan and international cooperation rather than divisive rhetoric.
That’s what American voters are looking for right now as November’s elections approach. We don’t want to vote for the least awful choice. We want to vote for candidates and a party that takes the high road of proposals and ideas, not the low road of impeachment. This is no time to be vindictive. It is, instead, a time to lead.
Gail Schoettler (gailschoettler@ email.msn.com) is a former U.S. ambassador, Colorado lieutenant governor and treasurer, Democratic nominee for governor and Douglas County school board member.
