Given the scandals surrounding his administration, Will Barack Obama finish his second term?

Every week on Monday morning , the Council and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher's Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day. This week's question: Given the scandals surrounding his administration, has Barack Obama worn out his welcome with the American people? Will He finish his second term?

The Razor: Elections have consequences, and unless it is proven that Obama stole the 2012 election outright or another scandal puts Obama personally in the cross-hairs of the American electorate, I do not expect him to resign based on what I know today.

For all the scandals of this administration going back to the refusal of the DoJ to prosecute the Black Panther voting intimidation case, I do not find it broken and collapsing around itself the way Nixon’s did in 1974. To reach that point Obama’s base is going to have to become disillusioned with him to the point where they are embarrassed they voted for him, and I don’t see that happening yet. He’s losing the legal Left supporters of the party, and I suspect Labor may be wavering with Obamacare and an immigration bill on the horizon, but he has not lost the black vote nor the limousine liberal elite that fund his machine. I’m familiar with Chicago politics having followed politics there for many years, and there’s nothing that his administration hasn’t done that wasn’t done before on a smaller scale in Chicago. The more people resist it the more vicious the administration is going to become, and I fully expect that when fall 2016 rolls around the country will be exhausted from the damage done by this administration to its enemies who will by that time include the majority of the Left, being that he’s done about all the damage he can possibly do to the Right aside from jailing it and banning the GOP.

There’s a reason why people hate Chicago politics; it’s complete bulls—t. The city doesn’t run better because of it. People’s lives aren’t better because of it. And it’s petty, corrupt and downright nasty. Americans don’t like seeing their national government reduced to such a state, and when the time comes they will do what is necessary to fix it. At least, that’s the hope. But maybe the right wing crazies are right and Obama will take power permanently. I had laughed at them before when they claimed the IRS was shaking them down, and the federal government was tapping their phone lines and following them online. I’m not laughing now.

Simply Jews: 1. To some degree. We usually overestimate the "wrath of the people", especially in democratic societies. Vox populi tends to switch to the next topic only too frequently, and our "political memories" are too short.

2. Yes. Unless the economy lurches downward too strongly, he will stay glued to the chair.


The Noisy Room: My initial response is, "God, I hope he doesn't finish his second term." But reality tends to throttle that back and I imagine he will. Obama has definitely worn out his welcome with the American people, but even if impeachment proceedings are set in motion, with a Progressive Senate, I'm not sure it will bear fruit.

To the specific question, "has Barack Obama worn out his welcome with the American people?" I would have to say the answer is decidedly yes. The trouble is that it isn't the "American people" who count the votes, choose the news, select the justice-du-jour and report the "facts" of what's true, what's popular and ... oh! Look! A dandelion! Squirrel!!

Will he finish his second term? That depends. Unhappily it "depends" on a pet Justice Department, a compliant Senate, a dysfunctional House and, most importantly, an incurious, sycophantic Press. Now, if the "American People" can somehow penetrate that wall of blue-pill-ism, then maybe -- very long odds, but maybe -- we can exert enough pressure to effect real justice. Given the kind of awakening required for that, maybe we could have a meaningful impeachment. It would require Americans to recognize and deal with the Enemies Within -- and there are a lot of them. So far, we seem to lack the intestinal fortitude to confront the evil that has infected our Republic.

Alternatively, I hear Ace Hardware is having a sale on pitchforks and the lawn & garden place up the street has some handsome torches. We could always storm the castle.

 JoshuaPundit: I'm fairly sure President Obama will finish his term for several reasons. First, because no one, not even Darrell Issa wants to undermine the F I R S T   B L A C K  P R E S I D E N T no matter how dysfunctional and corrupt he might be. Among other things, they're afraid it might spark urban riots among a certain segment of society.

Ironically, the AP, IRS and .NSA scandals make it even less likely. This president has already shown a real readiness to use federal agencies to punish what he considers his political enemies, something that's never been done before to this extent in our history.

And now that it's known that all that data on ordinary Americans and their domestic communications has been hoovered up and digitally stored, does anyone doubt that when push comes to shove, this president and his regime would be willing to use things like private conversations, internet activity, communications with your doctor, lawyer, or  accountant, family, e-mails, credit card transactions, medical records, everything we've always presumed was private against anyone too troublesome?

Or to coerce people to support his agenda? Perhaps  to get a troublesome Supreme Court justice of two to 'resign' ? After all , isn't that what was done with David Petraeus to get him to go along with the Benghazi fairy tale, and then discredit him and get him out of the picture? His mistress was using hotel networks to e-mail him and the NSA tracked those private e-mails and compared them with computerized hotel registration records.

This is a weapon of tyranny and coercion Hitler and Stalin only dreamt of.

In fact, I'll be happy if we're able to get rid of him by January 2017. There's a distinct possibility we may not. One can only hope that the midterms will see a congress incoming that act as a shield against this president and his agenda. We'll see.

GrEaT sAtAn"S gIrLfRiEnD:Oh, 44's chance of continuity? Much as I'd love to see Americans realize this cat and his admin view taxpaying, non atheist, constitution, Bill of Rights, individualistic Great Satan fans as a way more dangerous threat than al Qaeda, China and Black Veil Brides rolled into one - thus giving his entire presidency the old heave ho - I personally doubt it.

VdH says it best methinks:

Is pursuing a rogue IRS or a John Mitchell–like attorney general really worth wounding the second term of a reelected liberal president? Do we really need another Watergate or Iran-Contra, when the possible outcome this time around is not stopping the regressive efforts of a Richard Nixon or a Ronald Reagan, but rather endangering the political survival of the first black president, and the first northern liberal to be elected president since John Kennedy a half-century earlier — and, with him, a long-overdue progressive agenda that so far has given us needed higher taxes, socialized medicine, more entitlements, and liberal social initiatives?

 The Glittering Eye: Barring some catastrophe, Barack Obama will serve out his complete term. He might be impeached by the House. After all, "high crimes or misdemeanors" are whatever the House thinks they are. However, even in the unlikely event of that taking place, there is no conceivable way the Senate, even a hypothetical Senate after 2014 with a Republican majority, would vote to convict.

Given those circumstances and recalling that the Republican Party of the 1990s did not benefit by impeaching Bill Clinton, I think it highly unlikely that the House would even take the step of impeaching the president.

It's high time the Congressional Republicans moved on. Their task now is not removing President Obama but gaining control of the Congress. Anything that distracts from that task is wasted motion.

 Liberty's Spirit: Here's the answer to this weeks forum question. It is short and sweet.

Barack Obama has not worn out his welcome in the sense that he is President and will remain President until 2017. People may be unhappy with him as their choice right now, but that does not lead to the point where he would be impeached or forced to resign. Simple low popular polling does not a resignation nor an impeachment make.

Now everything may change if it is shown that he gave the direct order to use the IRS as a political weapon. At that point his actions would become an impeachable offense. But the other scandals, Benghazi, Fast and Furious, etc, are simply incompetence. Deadly incompetence to say the least, however not impeachable unless it can be shown that the President was in concert with our enemies to foment these disasters. Again I don't think he is anything more than a complete incompetent, who surrounds himself with like minded venal anti-American incompetents.

He is here to stay until the next election whether we like it or not. Does this mean however, that he will be able to push his agenda through? That all depends on how well the GOP plays the incompetency card against every democratic candidate. If the GOP can attach each and every democrat to the failed policies of the Obama administration, the GOP has a good chance of retaining the House and picking up the Senate. At that point it doesn't matter what Obama does. The Congress will be a bulwark against his programs.

Well, there you have it.

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