New York Post
Saturday, September 5, 1998
EDITORIAL
'I AGREE WITH WHAT HE SAID'
On Thursday, Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut stood before the world's greatest deliberative body and delivered a speech that put the president to shame - not only as a man and a leader, but as a rhetorician as well. Lieberman's address was sorrowful and wise, moral without being moralistic. Its purpose was not to sink the Clinton presidency but to save it. It was, in fact, precisely the kind of
speech America craved from Bill Clinton on August 17.
There was, in Lieberman's words, both a generosity of spirit and an expression of deep disappointment. He has used the bully pulpit of his presidency to eloquently and effectively call for the renewal of our common values, Lieberman rightly said of Clinton before adding: The president's relationship with Ms. Lewinsky not only contradicted the values he has publicly embaced over the last six years, it has, I
fear, compromised his moral authority at a time when Americans of every political persuasion agree that the decline of the family is one of the most pressing problems we are facing.
Lieberman said he was concerned his words would appear unnecessarily
judgemental, but they really weren't. I know from the Bible that only God can judge people. The most we can do is to comment without condemning individuals, he said. We as humans are all imperfect. We are all sinners. Many have betrayed a loved one, and most have told lies .... We all fall short of the standards our best values set for us. Certainly I do.
But, Lieberman added, the president, by virtue of the office he sought and was elected to, has traditionally been held to a higher standard. This is as it should be, because the American president ... is not just the one-man distillation of the American people but today the most powerful person in the world. And as such, the consequences of his misbehavior, even private misbehavior, are much greater than that of an average citizen, aCEO or even a senator.
Even so, Lieberman did not condemn Clinton. He described talk of impeachment as unjust and unwise in these days before Kenneth Starr issues his report to Congress. He urged that as our nation's leader, our commander in chief, Clinton be allowed the time and space and support he needs to carry out his most important duties and protect our national interest and security.
Lieberman's speech was an extraordinary event - in its large-heartedness and seriousness of purpose, it was everything Bill Clinton's speech was not. That Clinton could not deliver a speech like it is evidence that his presidency cannot be saved. That Lieberman, the foremost New Democrat in the U.S. Senate, could and did deliver such a speech means that the Democratic Party can be saved from Bill Clinton.
No longer will the Democratic Party fall back on the small-minded notion that 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is a glorified garage for the American economy and that its occupant is responsible only for keeping the fuel injectors clean.
Lieberman and many of his fellow Democrats, like the unambiguously liberal Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, are now acknowledging that Clinton has surrendered his personal authority. Without personal authority, a president is crippled. And when a great political party sides with a moral cripple against the larger interests of the country out of a knee-jerk team spirit, it cripples itself too.
Over in Ireland yesterday, Bill Clinton's response to Lieberman was, simply, mind-boggling: I agree with what he said.
It was just another lie. Because if Bill Clinton truly agreed with Joseph Lieberman, he would acknowledge the injury he has done to his office and resign. Instead, he is going to hang on by his fingernails as the country and the world look on, their contempt for him growing by the hour.
nypostonline.com |
