I guess the matter of impeachment is somewhat in the eye of the beholder. The only two presidents in my time who’ve been impeached, Nixon and Clinton, were tried for dumb-ass things like covering up a political break-in and lying about a blow-job. Truman wasn’t impeached for unleashing the atom bomb on the Japanese. Kennedy wasn’t impeached for the Bay of Pigs, nor for fucking every woman he came within ten feet of. Johnson wasn’t impeached for beggaring the country with Vietnam or for destroying the black family with his well-intentioned Great Society. Carter wasn’t impeached for failing to head off the inflation wrought by Johnson’s profligacy. Ford wasn’t impeached for being unable to chew gum and walk at the same time. Nixon wasn’t impeached for bombing Cambodia (talk about illegal!). Reagan wasn’t impeached for Iran-Contra (talk about illegal!. Bush wasn't impeached for a thousand things he did that were unbecoming a POTUS, never mind the blatant illegalities. None of the sons-of-bitches has been impeached for one of the great crimes of our time, i.e. the continuing imprisonment of tens of thousands of Americans for the simple crime of possessing a little marijuana or cocaine. I don’t know, guys – given the level of tolerance for incredible misfeasance, malfeasance, cruelty, illegality, destruction, murder and...did I mention destruction of people and their lives? -- you’re right: I don’t know exactly what rises to the level of an impeachable offense. What I do strongly feel, given the crimes of various sorts that have been committed by past presidents (some of which were literally, legally crimes and some of which were merely (?!) crimes against humanity), that nothing Obama has done or failed to do in his brief time in office is a tiny patch on what I’ve seen and lived through in my sixty years on the planet.

That said, I admit that I have a stake in Obama’s success. I hosted phone parties at my home, I drove to Nevada to knock on doors, my wife and I donated far more money than we could afford to donate, all to make sure John McCain and Sarah Palin didn’t get elected. So I suppose it’s kind of like a marriage, where the parties (in my case personally; I doubt Obama feels any direct debt of gratitude to Jim Houghton) agree to take the plunge together and give each other as much latitude and grace as possible, with the view that in the end the partnership should be given a chance to be productive and successful.

GOD KNOWS I’M FUCKING SORRY IF THAT DOESN’T WORK FOR YOU!!

Either you're pulling my leg, or you really can't spell the name of the town you live in, or both. Either way, it seems all you've got to do to be loved around here is be prepared to piss on your betters.

Jebbie, you're not stupid. But you are sick.

Jim Houghton, Encino, CA

Yeah...and?

You have a nice way of making a guy's case for him.

Three months in and already voices on the left are raising the impeachment cry. This is incredible.

First, until you've sat in the hot seat, you don't know what all the moving parts are that a new president with a relatively weak mandate faces. It's just to early to claim that Obama has abandoned his principles.

And even if you feel -- strongly feel -- that you need to remind him of those principles, why do it in such ugly, accusatory language that assumes -- without possibly knowing it to be true, yet -- that the man has turned his back on everything he ever promised us, that he is a traitorous shitbird in saint's clothing, that he deserves nothing but our scorn, derision and whatever rotten vegetables fall to hand? Is there not some way we can use this technology to be a helpful voice rather than a bitchy, deprecating one? Obama has said he'd listen to us, why not say what we have to say in the kind of tone a person might want to listen to? And why not just a wee bit of benefit of the doubt, that perhaps Obama can't afford to open the doors of Guantanamo or Bagram just yet but intends to as soon as it makes sense in terms of his overall goals? (Remember, he didn't make this mess, Bush did; some messes are like pick-up sticks -- you can't just grab whatever stick you want if you expect to win the game.)

Jesus, you people are so harsh. Three months after throwing confetti all over each other that we finally had a leader of intelligence and a good heart, he's dogmeat. Do you think getting this same kind of criticism, expressed with such venom, would help you do your job better?

Or is that not the point? Maybe this site has simply become home to a lot of sour-ass complainers who'll never be happy with anyone or anything as long as they can bitch about things anonymously and not have to show their own ability to do the job -- in all its infinite complexity -- one damn bit better.

Alex Jones is a kook. I don't know who Johann Hari is or what credibility the San Francisco Bay View has. But this article has some thought-provoking material in it, whatever the source. Can anyone here debunk it?

http://www.infowars.com/you-are-being-lied-to-about-pirates/

I'd much rather hear why it's crazy to think we can spend our way back to prosperity. It worked in the 30's, so yeah...let's talk about that instead of Michelle Bachmann who, after all, isn't going to make a whole lot of difference in the long run.

And BTW, it's "...hanged himself."