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Politics : Clinton's Scandals: Is this corruption the worst ever? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DJRoss who wrote (1919)	8/19/1998 9:08:00 AM
From: Zoltan!	Respond to of 13994

August 19, 1998 I, Clinton A lot of good Americans have a lot of thinking to do in the wake of President Clinton's remarkably revealing speech Monday night. There is a government that needs to be run the next two-plus years, and two centuries of political institutions that need to be protected and nurtured. Mr. Clinton made it plain that he is not going to be much help. The extraordinary features of the five-minute address are by now widely remarked. Even while confessing a relationship he could no longer plausibly deny, the president did not utter the word "apologize." He confessed to "misleading," not to lying. He contended his previous testimony was "legally accurate," meaning that he was hiding behind a convoluted definition of "sexual contact," while at the same time hotly asserting the details of his sexual contact were "private." While pretending to take responsibility for his actions, he proceeded to blame his problems on everyone else in general and Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr in particular. In total, it was not an expression of contrition but an outburst of anger. For better or worse, this was not the politically astute ploy. For weeks Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch was reaching for the President's hand; apologize and we can move on. From another point on the political spectrum, Leon Panetta, the President's former chief of staff, was writing the same script. Each ended up with a thumb in his eye. Headed for a head-on collision with Mr. Starr, Mr. Clinton mashed the accelerator in a constitutional game of chicken. This is anything but the way to "move on" or get the matter "behind us." Now of course, we've been expressing severe doubt that any such thing would be possible in any event, at least without a mea culpa for matters reaching far beyond Monica Lewinsky and into the realm of criminal intent. And perhaps Mr. Clinton's defiance reflects the same calculation, that if he gives an inch his defenses will collapse, that his best bet is to make clear that any final assault would be painful for his critics, for innocent bystanders and for the Republic. Perhaps, but our bet is that instead what the nation heard Monday night was the real Bill Clinton. He did not apologize or truly accept responsibility because he cannot; it is not in his genes. He does not admit to lying because he lies without remorse, without even recognizing it. He blames others because he deeply believes he is the wronged party. And despite the insistence of advisers he does not recognize his own peril. Throughout the world and throughout history, as we've written before, national leaders have typically not had normal, well-adjusted personalities. Completely adjusted personalities seldom go into politics, and even more seldom show the drive and willingness to sacrifice needed to climb to the top. We've sparked debate among psychiatrists in our letters column before by mentioning that the traits described in the paragraph above (along with sexual problems and a charming air) are the classical symptoms of a condition called antisocial personality disorder. Of course, sociopaths are usually failures rather than denizens of Oxford or the White House, and we would not pretend to a clinical diagnosis. Even so, an understanding of this collection of human traits seems to us a great help in making sense of the Clinton Presidency, as it was again Monday night. Now the President is digging himself even more deeply into the bunker, and flitting off to celebrity fixes in the Hamptons and Martha's Vineyard. Happily the Cold War is over, and while foreign policy problems may linger no true crisis is imminent. Madeleine Albright is a steadying influence. There are clouds on the economic horizon, despite prosperity and yeasty markets, but Alan Greenspan is on watch and Robert Rubin no lightweight. The Republic functioned for 18 months with President Wilson incapacitated by a stroke. The truly serious problem lies at the Justice Department, deeply compromised by the President's stonewall defense. Perhaps Janet Reno will yet make an honest woman of herself with appointment of a new independent counsel on campaign finance abuses; surely the Congress is mounting appropriate pressure to that end. At the FBI, Louis Freeh has recognized a higher responsibility. At great sacrifice to his own career and reputation, Kenneth Starr has been upholding the rule of law. The saving grace of Monday afternoon's circus was that in the end the President had to answer to the law. Whatever the President's anger at the intrusions, he did not prove to be an emperor. For the longer term, the important thing is that the nation digests the lessons it is so painfully learning. This means that the process must grind forward. Mr. Starr must report to the Congress; what Congress needs from him is much more than a "gotcha" on sexual perjury, but a broader collection of evidence that the President may have set a climate of disrespect for law that has permeated our institutions. We hope that Congress, perhaps with new leaders rising, would face up more squarely than it has to airing the essential issues. Whether or not impeachment is necessary or appropriate could be decided in due course, but clearly the worst outcome would be for responsible Americans to blink before Mr. Clinton's anger, making him an emperor after all. interactive.wsj.com