Like many Democrats in leadership positions in the U.S. House, Wisconsin's David Obey is resistant to a full-fledged effort to impeach President Bush. We disagree with Obey and hope that he will come to the conclusion that members of the House have a responsibility to hold the president to account for his high crimes and misdemeanors.
But we appreciate that Obey does not try, as some prominent Democrats do, to question the validity of the arguments for impeachment.
Asked at a recent event in Washington for his assessment of the accountability debate, the Wausau Democrat responded, "Do I think the president has engaged in actions which are impeachable? I say yes."
Obey does not think impeachment is politically pragmatic at this point. Perhaps he is right.
But we hope that he will recognize that the people of Wisconsin have always expected more from their representatives than political calculation. The Wisconsin way is to stand on principle, as "Fighting Bob" La Follette did. And the principled position is the one taken by U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, who has signed on as a proud co-sponsor of impeachment resolutions that have been proposed in the House.
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