Recess Appointments

The last paragraph of Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution states:

"The President shall have the Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.

President Obama is clearly misusing and abusing this authority with his recent appointments to the National Labor Relations Board and the appointment of Richard Cordray to head the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. None of these appointments were made to fill vacancies that happened during a Senate recess.

Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution says of the president:

Before he enter on the Execution of the Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:-"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

By his recent usurpation of congressional powers by ignoring the requirement of obtaining advise and consent of the Senate for these appointments is obviously in violation of the Constitution. These actions warrant serious response from the legislative branch. Making a few speeches denouncing this action is insufficient. The leaders in the Senate and House of Representatives need to make an unequivocal demand for President Obama to back down with the clear message that failure to obey the Constitution will result in initiation of impeachment proceedings.

Impeachable Conduct? You Decide

Impeachment proceedings should not be undertaken lightly. Whenever we down the path of presidential misconduct it is the cover up which really undermines an administration more than the initial misbehavior. That is true again in a matter involving President Obama and his crooked friend Kevin Johnson. Here are the basic alleged facts:
* Former NBA player and current Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson was investigated by the AmeriCorps inspector general, Gerald Walpin after people reported misuse of funds by Johnson when he was head of a private school funded by Americorps.
* Johnson is a friend and ally of Obama.
* Obama fired Walpin in June amid allegations of senility.
* Walpin filed suit in federal court in Washington in July alleging that he was fired improperly while investigating whether Johnson had misused federal grant funds.
* U.S. attorney ruled in favor of Walpin that he was removed improperly.
* Johnson's fiance, Michelle Rhee, who is now DC schools chief, handled the "damage control" after the sexual misconduct charges arose against Johnson.
* Walpin has not been reinstated.

This scandal and the administration cover up have received scant reporting in the lamestream media. Does anyone doubt it would lead the evening news every night if a Republican president fired an inspector general who was investigating his buddy?

Does impeding an investigation of misuse (fancy word for theft) of government funds rise to the level of impeachable behavior? When you get down to it Nixon was hounded out of office for impeding an investigation into misbehavior by his underlings. Funny thing is based on his naive foreign policy mentality, we have considered Obama to be serving Jimmy Carter's second term and it turns out he is looking more and more like Nixon without the competence (or press scrutiny).