Clinton's day of reckoning
Dionne, E.J. Jr.
o when does it end? Will we spend the next twenty-two months talking about President Bill Clinton's sex life? True, it's not just about sex. It's about character and, perhaps, obstruction...
...It's time to shut down the sideshow, decide Clinton's fate and, yes, restore power to the people...
...Once the issue moves to Congress and the Paula Jones case is decided, Clinton will have no more excuses to prevent him from speaking out...
...All this is more entertaining than, say, campaign reform, Iraq, Social Security, Medicare, education, the Asian crisis, and child care...
...But the voters don't seem to want that, and postponing the day of reckoning also carries a political price...
...It's time to say enough...
...We already know this case will be decided in Congress...
...Eight years ago, political scientists Benjamin Ginsberg and Martin Shefter wrote a prescient book, Politics by Other Means, in which they argued that the power of the people to decide important matters through elections had been supplanted by a new kind of politics...
...It's about character and, perhaps, obstruction of justice, lying, and sexual harassment...
...But there's little reason to suspect that staying at this for another several months will produce sudden clarity...
...She appeared credible enough that it was hard for Anita Hill's defenders not to come forward on Willey's behalf...
...Many legislators in both parties would prefer delay...
...If you believe a vast right-wing conspiracy is out to get you, you watch your back, and you behave...
...Start should wind down his inquiry now and send his report to the House...
...Still, there is a core problem with this story, and it's one of the reasons why the public still has not turned on Clinton...
...You can believe that Ken Starr has grounds for suspecting a large Clinton cover-up, ranging from Webb Hubbell to Monica Lewinsky, and also surmise that Starr, smarting from attacks on himself and his office, will do whatever it takes to get the president...
...The only grounds for further delay would be the hope that smoking-gun evidence will turn up eventually to settle this case for us...
...In this controversy, it's possible to believe that everyone is right...
...And it's difficult not to be upset with the president...
...If he has outstanding prosecutions, let him go ahead while Congress ponders...
...And let Congress make its decision before November's elections, so the voters can render a verdict on Congress's verdict...
...You can believe the Clinton camp will trash whomever they have to for the sake of survival, and that Clinton shaves the truth when he has to, andstill wonder: Are all these charges really true...
...Starr could keep investigating, trying to turn up new women and hoping to turn old witnesses...
...You can also go on like this forever, but to what end...
...It is built around press disclosures, judicial proceedings, and investigations...
...You can be fairly certain that the president did things he shouldn't have, and also know that some of his enemies will do anything to bring him down, no matter what he did...
...a man respected by members of both parties...
...9 1998, Washington Post Writers Group Commonweal 9 April 10, 1998...
...We need to make a democratic decision, as we did on Clarence Thomas and Bob Packwood...
...You can believe there are women with legitimate complaints against the president, and also doubt some things his accusers have said...
...Yes, Kathleen Willey made a powerful presentation against the president...
...They couldn't have imagined how far this move away from deliberative democratic politics would go...
...Congress should deal with Starr's findings fairly but expeditiously using the House Judiciary Committee headed by Henry Hyde (R-Ill...
...It's time to decide: Do we want to let the president govern, or do we want him to leave...
...Since he knew that his behavior with women was destined to be an issue, why didn't he go out of his way to avoid situations that might even appear to be compromising...
...Some of them--notably Hill herself and Patricia Ireland of the National Organization for Women--did...
...So let's move it to Congress fast...
...The issue before the country is whether we want to spend the rest of the Clinton term parsing his morality and analyzing the motives of his critics...
...Clinton can figure out a strategy to survive nearly anything...
Vol. 125 • April 1998 • No. 7
