EDITORIAL – Remember Watergate? Monica?

Recent AP-Ipsos polls show that nearly 70 percent of Americans disapprove of President Bush’s… Recent AP-Ipsos polls show that nearly 70 percent of Americans disapprove of President Bush’s leadership. That’s right, he’s scoring in the mid- to upper-30’s in nearly all areas, including overall job performance, foreign policy, the war on terror and Iraq.

Let’s take a minute and meditate on the math. It doesn’t take long to realize that those numbers don’t add up to a great presidency.

As students, if we score in the 30th percentile, we fail. Goodnight. Lights out. See ya next term.

Why, then, can our president get away with such poor performance? Sure, public opinion doesn’t grade our papers or score our Scantrons – maybe we’d be better off if it did. But isn’t it time that we tap Mr. Bush on the shoulder and let him know he’s not getting the grades he needs to stay in the White House?

Vermont thinks so.

On Saturday, Democratic leaders in the Green Mountain State passed a motion asking Congress to begin impeachment proceedings against the president. And they’re not the first. Democratic state committees in New Mexico, South Carolina, Wisconsin and Nevada have also taken similar action.

Vermont is asking the House to pass articles of impeachment accusing Bush of misleading America on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and engaging in illegal wiretapping, among other charges.

For all of you out there who missed the School House Rock impeachment episode, we’ll break it down for you – but we’re not going to sing.

Impeachment begins in the House of Representatives. Impeachment resolutions, made by members of the House, are turned over to the House Judiciary Committee who then review their solutions. If the Judiciary Committee finds that the evidence merits further investigation, the matter is brought back to the House.

The House votes whether or not to carry out a formal impeachment inquiry, needing only a simple majority, one vote, to approve the action. If approved, the House Judiciary Committee then investigates whether or not there is enough evidence to draft articles of impeachment, which are specific, evidence-supported charges. If the House Judiciary Committee comes up with one or more articles, the House votes if the president should stand trial in the Senate. If the House approves at least one article, the president is impeached and the Senate takes over.

The president then faces a trial in the Senate, presided over by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. After the trial, Senate deliberates behind closed doors and then votes in open session. If a two-thirds majority convicts the president, he is removed from office and the Vice President gets a promotion

That’s right, we could theoretically rid ourselves of Bush, but we’d still be left with Dick Cheney. Resignation is not out of the question. Nixon resigned before he could be formally kicked out, but knowing our beloved head of state, we probably won’t get off that easy.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. First, more legislators have to get behind the impeachment movement. Congratulations to the people who are finally standing up and calling Bush out on his abuse of power in the days after Sept. 11, 2001. Although the House is Republican-controlled, factions in his own party won’t assure that Bush will avoid impeachment proceedings.

If Clinton faced impeachment for lying about, well, you know – which incidentally didn’t come at the cost of human lives and billions of dollars – why haven’t we done something about Bush sooner?

While the idea of President Bush receiving a formal slap on the wrists is titillating, is it too late? Bush clearly has taken advantage of tragedy to push his own agenda at the expense of the American people. It is time for accountability, but are the consequences of a Bush impeachment worth it? If we take down Bush, Cheney would be next and then who? Is there even enough time left in Bush’s term to have an effective witch hunt?

Whatever is done, it’s about time Americans start acting.