From The Atlantic: Impeachment, But Without the Moral Clarity
The final four paragraphs of the essay:
"...If Friday’s press conference was a declaration of anything, it was lost in the confusion. The trouble with bringing urgent moral questions down to the level of political horse-trading is that the urgency dissolves, and with it the sense of moral crisis that House Democrats worked so hard over the course of Mueller’s testimony to build up.
Is moral clarity too much to expect? The process of impeachment is a political judgment, assigned by the Constitution to the branch of government that is both the most politically sensitive and, with its hundreds of members, the most challenged by the problems of collective action. So if the House shuffles awkwardly in the direction of impeachment proceedings, maybe shuffling is the best it can manage. And three months after the release of the Mueller report, any movement toward seriously considering impeachment is both welcome and long overdue.
Then again, the confusion of the press conference stems in part from the sheer strangeness of the prize the Judiciary Committee has invoked impeachment in order to obtain: that is, the grand-jury material. The odds in court are uncertain, and the redacted material makes up a minuscule portion of a report that, as Democrats have emphasized again and again, is profoundly unflattering to the president. It’s hard to imagine what kind of smoking gun could be hidden behind redactions. Anyway, the evidence table is already littered with exhibit after damning exhibit. At best, the grand-jury material is like the Maltese Falcon: the desired object that has no real significance, but moves the plot forward. At worst, it’s another way for the House to kick the can on presidential accountability down the road.
In watching Trump’s rage alongside what looks like Democratic dithering, what comes to mind is an unflattering line from the poet William Butler Yeats: “The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity.” The only hope is that the House will continue to slouch toward impeachment."
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/house-democrats-slouch-toward-impeachment/594940/
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