William Jefferson Clinton is an odd amalgam of the best and worst in the American political character, and his best and worst tendencies will soon lead him to relinquish his office for the good of the country and for his own good.
In recent memory only Ronald Reagan and Franklin Roosevelt have been as successful as Clinton at connecting with the American people and communicating to them that their government cares about them. The phenomenal approval ratings of the president are not just due to the superb state of the economy, but rest in part on Bill Clinton’s fabled ability to connect with Everyman. His detractors have ridiculed the notion that Clinton feels others’ pain, but many others are apparently convinced. Even Hillary Clinton’s notions, borrowed from folk wisdom, that it takes a village to raise a child, reflect an authentic spirit of community, of living i
n a city on a hill, that take us right back to our colonial Puritan roots. The invocation of community, of what trendy academics describe as “civic Republicanism” didn’t always work for the Clintons, but even those of us who criticized them understood that there was at least some virtue involved in their efforts.
But if President Clinton had the ability soaringly to inspire, there was no sign of it Monday night when he addressed the nation on the Monica Lewinsky matter. For the first time in memory, a Clinton public performance was met with almost universal media scorn. This newspaper was representative in labeling the suddenly clear “scarlet” character of the president. The Tribune editorial’s allusion to Hawthorne’s novelization of intolerance, selfishness and debasement in 17th Century Massachusetts demonstrates the historical longevity of this darker side in American culture. The mea culpa we had been led to expect turned out to be more of what one wag called “mea first.” It was an unabashed attack on Kenneth Starr, crafted in transparent and mendacious purportedly exculpatory language claiming that the president only wanted to get on with governing the nation and asserting that he was being unfairly tormented.
Clinton, for the first time in his presidency, not only admitted that he had lied to the American people for the last seven months, but utterly failed to apologize for “misleading” his supporters, prosecutors and the nation. His performance, at a stroke, removed any shred of moral authority he might have possessed, but it also resonated with an American reluctance to admit mistakes, an American unwillingness to admit to selfish motives, and an American ability of self-deception, of a kind we have seen demonstrated from the time of our revolution, on through the sectional struggle that culminated in our Civil War, and right on through to Watergate and Vietnam.
If Bill Clinton still cares about his and his party’s agenda to secure a more widespread sharing of the extraordinary prosperity of recent years among all Americans, he ought soon to realize that he is incapable of furthering it in any meaningful way. He has been exposed as a selfish philanderer, and cannot summon the disinterested virtue to persuade his fellow citizens, much less his Republican opponents in Congress, of the wisdom of any legislative program he might propose. Sooner, rather than later, Democrats in Congress will understand that their chances of enacting their programs and retaking the House of Representatives and the Senate are non-existent unless Al Gore rather than Bill Clinton is president.
If it is true that the president is concerned with the judgment of history, he will soon step aside, and be remembered for a last altruistic act to promote his party’s program rather than his selfish and defiant attempt to justify his behavior.
If the president is lucky (and until Monday he always seemed to be bailed out by chance), he may also be able to deflect attention from the fact that quitting now is also the best move for selfish reasons. The dogged Judge Starr (whose reputation for probity and honesty among his friends is as strong as Clinton’s reputation for prevarication is among his), now not only has clear evidence of perjury in the Paula Jones deposition and likely evidence of obstruction of justice in connection with that case and the Monica Lewinsky investigation, but reportedly had amassed 300 pages of an impeachment recommendation to Congress even before Linda Tripp’s tapes were delivered, and the Monica mess began. If the president waits until the delivery of that report (now expected within a matter of weeks), impeachment proceedings will become inevitable, evidence of even more criminal behavior on the part of the White House can be expected, and Clinton’s reputation will be tarnished beyond any redemption.
If Clinton resigns now he ought to be able to be the beneficiary of a presidential pardon from Al Gore, in the manner President Ford pardoned President Nixon–for the good of the country. After all, so far the White House has been successful in convincing most of the American people that Clinton has done no more than lied about sex. But if Clinton refuses to relinquish his office, and is eventually removed through impeachment, as a result of the commission of high crimes and misdemeanors, including perjury, obstruction of justice and heaven knows what else, a pardon is less likely. A President Gore, with campaign-financing difficulties of his own, and perhaps facing a hostile and reinforced Republican majority elected in November (after the delivery of Judge Starr’s report, but before impeachment can be undertaken, much less completed) might not have as much political discretion to exercise his constitutional power to pardon.
A reinforced Republican Congress would also be much more likely to complete impeachment proceedings and follow them by conviction. The president’s removal from office could be expected–without a pardon–to be followed by criminal prosecution. President Clinton might thus not only lose his office, but his very freedom. If he does not leave soon, it will become clear to our allies that there is no reason to trust him, and clear to our enemies that there is no reason to fear him. His interests, those of his party and his country, and the interest of all of us who care about having a president entitled to our trust and respect, are converging, and will lead Clinton to step aside. It will be painful to be the second president to resign, but the pain for him and for us, and the judgment of history would be much worse were he to become the first president to be impeached, removed and incarcerated.
