Impeach Obama, Says Ralph Nader

Impeaching President Obama is on the table for consumer advocate Ralph Nader.

Nader is currently promoting a new book called Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State.

According to Nader, Obama has acted illegally in conducting foreign affairs. “You don’t interfere with national sovereignties by putting in secret forces in countries around the world, and drones, and shooting up civilians and villages, and wedding processions; all that is illegal under international law.”

Continued Nader, who ran for president himself on the Green Party ticket in 1996 and 2000, and as an independent in 2004 and 2008:

“Libya was the most egregious violation of the Constitution by President Obama clearly. He attacked Libya with European nations without a declaration of war. He didn’t ask Congress for an authorization of funds. He didn’t get an appropriate of funds from Congress. He found a billion and a half dollars somewhere in the Pentagon budget. That’s an impeachable offense flat out.”

Nader previously referred to Obama as a con man in connection with raising the minimum wage. He has also insisted that, with regard to the drone attacks in particular, Obama should be held accountable for war crimes and that he is “more aggressive, more illegal worldwide” than George W. Bush.

Nader claimed that the House of Representatives should adopt articles of impeachment against Obama, but “the reason why Congress doesn’t want to do it because it’s abdicated its own responsibility under the Constitution.”

As far as the premise of his book is concerned, Nader noted that a left-right alliance in the US House nearly passed the Justin Amash (R-Mich.) sponsored amendment reining in NSA spying. “We are beginning to see formulations that once they click together, they’re unstoppable.”

Nader maintained that the left and right can come together in opposing big bank bailouts, ending the war on drugs, and rooting out fraud in military contracting.

Under the Obama administration, there has been a lot of crony capitalism or corporatism in special deals for Big Business. Nader is silent on the collusion between the administration and Big Labor, however.

Separately, liberal reporter Matt Taibbi recently admitted, “George W. Bush boasts a much stronger track record of going after corporate America than President Barack Obama.”

Bush “hands down” was tougher on corporate America than Obama in terms of prosecuting white collar crime, Taibbi declared. No one has gone to jail under Obama as a result of the bank failures and other shenanigans in the financial meltdown, he observed.

In the interview, Nader offered qualified praise for the leadership of US Sen. Rand Paul, a libertarian-leaning Republican, who has become a leader on privacy rights and a foe of wireless government surveillance. “He’s a mixed bag, you know, he’s evolving. He’s broadening his issues that he’s talking about and they’re beginning to resonate. On the other hand … he has problems dealing with people.” Nader added that he’s a strong contender for the 2016 GOP nomination unless Jeb Bush gets in.

A Jeb Bush-Hillary Clinton “dynasty” matchup would be boring according to Nader. He’s not a fan of Hillary, whom he deemed an international militarist and more hawkish than Obama. Not a fan of corporate power, either, Nader is nonetheless trying to convince someone on his list of billionaires to mount a third-party presidential candidacy in 2016 to end the “two-party tyranny.”

What do you think of Ralph Nader’s criticism of the president, including a call for an Obama impeachment?

[image credit: Rageesoss]