My bet is that Clinton will resign in the next few months and let Al Gore take over for the remainder of this term. He’ll quit because he’s damaged, personally and professionally, and to a great number of Americans, he is morally corrupted.
I believe he pursued his career with a great zeal for public service and a genuine belief in government and the political system, and I believe he still regards the system and the office he holds as vitally important to the success of the American state.
An analysis would show it was policies supported by the president that resulted in the economic success enjoyed for the past few years. We have him to thank for that. But he was only able to accomplish those things because he had many people and advisers believing in him personally. The strategy of the planning sessions was essentially to provide a good environment for the country to grow and prosper, much as parents will consult with family, friends and community when they consider the prospects for providing for their children. I trusted him as I did my parents: with a dose of skepticism, sometimes rebelling against the importance of his accomplishments but essentially benefiting from the results.
But now I can’t hold him in the same regard. I don’t know if it’s moral indignation or just disappointment that he caved in and played the special prosecutor’s game. I know he’ll have trouble from now on, and he probably can’t use denial anymore. To me he showed the greatest lapse from character by not simply telling the prosecutor to mind his own business. Instead he caved in, and in his populist fashion attempted to reach Americans at their own level. That is not my level, and I find him hard to respect.
I have benefited from the Bill Clinton presidency, and I thank him for that. I have been encouraged to pursue my livelihood in the hopes that I will prosper rather than simply get by, and for the past few years have felt that I was part of the mainstream of American life. I liked that feeling, and now I am forced to seek leadership elsewhere.
