WHERE ARE THE RESIGNATIONS?
KRISTOL, WILLIAM
WHERE ARE THE RESIGNATIONS? by William Kristol “AT NO TIME DID I ASK ANYONE TO LIE,” said Bill Clinton, lying, in his August 17 address to the nation. For seven months, the president asked his...
...A: It’s been said that ‘He who cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself.’ Of course I do...
...I don’t think so...
...When...
...Back in February, Clinton spokesman Mike McCurry told the Chicago Tribune that he believed Clinton’s denials...
...Did no aide bridle at the presumption and condescension of this document...
...He attempts to cover it up...
...Apparently, not one of them is willing to do that...
...Well, now we have “truth to the contrary”—and still, McCurry spins away, troubled or not...
...Does no one in the administration realize this...
...And all of them, in turn, were sent out to lie to the rest of us on his behalf...
...I worked in two administrations, first for Bill Bennett, then for Dan Quayle...
...Personal loyalty is an admirable trait, and so is political loyalty...
...As Charles Krauthammer said, “This is the point at which cynicism turns into moral depravity...
...Is there nothing that will impel them to depart...
...It also goes without saying that, if either of them had done something even remotely so disgraceful, he would have resigned...
...But I honestly believe that, if either man had resisted resignation, my colleagues and I would have told him he had to go...
...He lies about it...
...To remain loyal to a president who lies is to make oneself complicit in his lies...
...Of course I do...
...Government officials work for the nation, not simply for the president...
...They need not become vociferous critics of the president...
...Doesn’t he or anyone else in the administration feel an obligation to depart now...
...At some point, blind loyalty must yield to principled honor...
...But he added that “truth to the contrary would be very troublesome to me, to the press, and the American people...
...Yet none of his staff, no member of his administration, and almost no Democratic official seems to want to hold the president truly accountable for his actions—by demanding that he resign...
...But are there no honorable men around him...
...But it would be refreshing if one of them refused to be complicit any longer in the ongoing lie that is the Clinton White House...
...It goes without saying that neither of them would have done what Bill Clinton has done...
...Ann Lewis and Paul Begala...
...But after his speech, according to the Washington Post, the White House was thoughtful enough to issue talking points to staffers so that they could be ready when asked about being betrayed by their boss: “Q: Do you forgive him for misleading you and the country...
...To remain loyal to a man who has brought shame to his office is to make oneself complicit in that shame...
...Bill Clinton is not a man of honor...
...Madeleine Albright and Donna Shalala...
...That is a convenient time for both him and the administration...
...A quiet, principled leavetaking would suffice...
...And, in the absence of Clinton’s willingness to go, not a single person who works for him seems to have the honor to leave himself...
...And who was the minion so lacking in self-respect that he could write it...
...Now he admits (albeit grudgingly and partially) to the truth...
...And the night of August 17 was the moment at which loyal service to Bill Clinton (already morally problematic) crossed the line into self-abasement...
...Is this an unrealistically high expectation...
...So now what...
...He assured them—some of them personally—that he had told the truth when he denied a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky...
...William Kristol is editor and publisher of THE WEEKLY STANDARD...
...Can his staff and cabinet be lied to without consequence...
...As the White House sees it, forgiveness would be proper and fitting...
...But how about now...
...Yes, he had announced his resignation for October, well before Clinton’s speech...
...It would not be so convenient...
...But it would be honorable...
...Up to a point...
...They need not denounce him...
...For seven months, the president asked his staffers and supporters to lie...
...Tom Daschle and Dick Gephardt: All of them were lied to by the president...
...The president engages in sordid activity in the White House—in the Oval Office—with a 21-year-old intern...
...They swear an oath to the Constitution, not to the president...
...In fact, it would be difficult...
...Bill Clinton couldn’t bring himself to apologize, of course, either to the country or to his loyalists...
...Failing that, we ourselves would have resigned...
Vol. 3 • August 1998 • No. 48
