Impeachment or Bipartisanship?

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As I have stated consistently since I began my campaign last fall, I believe that the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney and their removal from office are imperative for the defense of our democracy. Without impeachment, every precedent, every signing statement, every entrenched corrupt and illegal practice, will take on a life of its own and stay with us as long as we live, and beyond.

The only way to wipe the slate clean is to bring charges against both Bush and Cheney, and if convicted, remove them from office. The legacy of this disastrous administration should be stamped REJECTED in big red letters for all time. We must do this for our children and their children. The opportunity for impeachment expires at noon on Jan. 20, 2009, when the next president is sworn in.

Impeachment is imperative, even though it will be a messy, acrimonious, and partisan process. Senator Obama seems to believe that great evils can always be dealt with through bipartisan cooperation. That ignores the reality of the Bush-Cheney administration's gutting of the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. No matter who wins the presidency this November, it is foolish to think that an era of good feelings is at hand. Quite the contrary.

The economic crisis is worsening, and the solutions required will be very controversial, as the response to my proposed five-year moratorium on foreclosures has demonstrated.

To save our nation during the last depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt had to brave the hatred of Wall Street, and we can thank our lucky stars that he never flinched. In the '60s, John F. Kennedy refused to negotiate with US Steel, and forced it to yield to the national interest. Appeasement has never served us well, and there is no reason to think it ever will.

If supporting Senator Obama means buying in to his novel theory that political struggle is bad in itself, I cannot follow that path. (Before you go to caucus this Sunday (Feb. 10), I urge Maine Democrats to look at the advisers guiding each respective candidate. Back in 2000, if we had paid less attention Bush’s words and more attention to the gaggle of aggressive neocon ideologues advising him, the country might be better off today.

When I look at Senator Obama, I see first of all his consigliere, Zbigniew Brzezinski, whose service under President Carter was a tragic failure. Brzezinski seems to want to crown his career with a final confrontation – not in the Middle East, but with Russia. I believe this is incalculable folly, and if I am elected to the US Senate this November, I intend to oppose it.

Senator Obama’s lead economics advisor is Austan Goolsbee, a free market enthusiast from the University of Chicago who, like Bush, is apparently a member of Yale’s Skull and Bones Society. Under Obama, Goolsbee is in line to become Secretary of the Treasury. After two Bushes, perhaps the country has had enough of Skull and Bones for a while.

Another Obama advisor is Harvard Professor Jeffrey Liebman, who favors the partial privatization of Social Security. I totally opposed that idea when it came from Bush, and I will totally oppose it again if Obama suggests it.

In short, even a cursory look at Obama’s advisers is discouraging. Underneath his soaring rhetoric are some stale and discredited policy proposals.

Maine voters would be well advised to take another look at Senator Clinton, who is certainly more progressive in her health care plan and her approach to foreclosures than Senator Obama. At the very least, she offers the stability of a known quantity. Unlike much of the mainstream media, I am not especially alarmed at the prospect of Bill Clinton returning to the White House. But I am deeply alarmed by the possibility of a comeback by Zbigniew Brzezinski, thanks to Senator Obama’s inexperience in foreign affairs.

www.dobsonforsenate.com

Laurie Dobson is a writer, planner, mother, gardener, anti-war activist and caregiver who is FEC registered, running in the 2008 for the US Senate as an Independent Candidate in Maine. She lives at the 'Old Cape Farm' in Kennebunkport, with her (more...)

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