OK, when is a better question that if?
Posted at 10:43 a.m. PDT Monday, September 14, 1998
More papers call for Clinton to resign
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - USA Today, one of the biggest selling U.S. dailies, Monday called on President Clinton to resign immediately for ''failing to put the nation's interests first.''
''The time for the president to leave is not after months of continued national embarrassment, but now. Bill Clinton should resign,'' it said in an editorial.
''He should resign because he has resolutely failed -- and continues to fail -- the most fundamental test of any president: to put his nation's interests first,'' added the newspaper, which has a nationwide circulation exceeding 1.7 million.
USA Today, which vies with the Wall Street Journal for the country's largest circulation, said special prosecutor Kenneth Starr's report on Clinton showed the president began a shallow affair with intern Monica Lewinsky knowing the pain the country would suffer if it came to light.
The report, released last Friday, said Clinton committed perjury, tampered with witnesses and abused his power in trying to cover up his affair with Lewinsky. Clinton's lawyers deny he committed those offenses.
The scandal threatens to dominate U.S. politics for months as members of Congress debate whether to impeach Clinton.
USA Today said Clinton's legal strategy, coupled with his expressions of repentance, might keep him in office.
''It would at best be a hollow victory for someone who has shown himself to be a small man,'' it added.
''A president should be more than that. He should be the extraordinary person (founding father Alexander) Hamilton foresaw -- one who occupies the office with integrity and who instinctively places honesty and the nation's welfare above self-interest,'' it said.
''Bill Clinton has given no sign that he is or can become that kind of person ... Bill Clinton should resign,'' it added.
On Sunday, the Mercury News and the Reno Gazette-Journal also called for Clinton's resignation.
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