Is there any politician in Washington, or any state capitol, for that matter, who could have withstood a 40 to 50 million dollar investigation into every facet of their lives? I doubt it.
I also doubt that many have the fortitude necessary to keep doing the best they can in spite of being up against a political party with unlimited funding (funding provided by the taxpayers) which had been bound and determined to undermine and destroy them even before officially taking office .
What if old goody two-shoes Ronald Reagan had been as investigated? What of George Bush? Both knew exactly what was going on during the Contra affair. That is now a matter of public record.
As certain as I am of sitting here writing this , Reagan and Bush’s knowledge and compliance with drug-selling efforts by the CIA to Americans on American soil (Los Angeles, CA) would certainly have resulted in their impeachments and removals from office. The two of them did not have any real defense whatsoever. So, the cover-up with a fall guy - North.
And all that could be found against William Clinton was a lie under oath about an extra-marital affair. My heavens, that sure is serious when compared to the above past presidents, isn’t it?
So, the Republican Party and its numerous supporters compiling the category of anti-Clintonites don’t understand why Mr. Clinton’s ratings keep going up. It is beyond their comprehension that he is becoming the most popular president ever. Perhaps they should consider the people, not just their party’s self-serving political aims.
First, do many believe that a president’s sex life or his lying about it is other than the norm? Not many, if any, do.
Do many even believe that it is important for them to know about a president’s sex life? NO!
And that is really all the past four years of Republican vindictiveness has been based on. After a most exhaustive investigation in history, all they could find to focus on was, and is, exactly what the public didn’t even consider its business.
Second, does the majority consider it an impeachable offense? NO! Why should it be? It is the norm for married people to lie about their extra-marital affairs, not the exception.
If every Republican were investigated as thoroughly, a safe bet would be that each has skeletons, sexual skeletons, that is, in their closets. And, guess what - it wouldn’t even be
gambling as gambling by its very nature entails the risk of losing.
Third, how many consider the entire affair, from Whitewater on, to be a Republican-guided conspiracy to undermine the effectiveness of Mr. Clinton? One hundred percent of the
people talked to believe this.
And, based on the sequence of events beginning with the failure of Whitewater to produce any evidence of wrong-doing by Clinton, this writer would wager when the truth comes out
(and it will), it will be revealed that Republican leadership orchestrated every step of Starr’s investigation.
It may not be this year, or next, but as certainly as the truth came out about Reagan and Bush concerning the Contra activities of the CIA, it will eventually out. Someone will talk. That
is fast becoming the final turn-about in the Potomac two-step. Someone will want to profit and not every person involved will be able to ignore the notoriety and money that will follow.
Fourth, the majority of American people have felt that Mr. Clinton has done a great job as president. He did exactly as he stated he would while the Republicans failed miserably at
their promises when they took over the majority in Congress, meaning both the House and Senate. Their ‘100-day’ objectives went by without any objectives materializing.
One could feel the attitudes of people changing during Clinton’s first term. It became one of hope, not despair. People started feeling good about being alive. Many, the writer included, began feeling proud once again of being an American.
Then, the Republican Party set out in its goal, a goal voiced by Bob Dole immediately after it becoming certain that Mr. Clinton would become president. Dole stated on national TV
he was going to get his party reunited (how often does this have to be done with the Republican Party?) and it would do everything possible to stop Clinton from getting anything done.
And, that is exactly what Republicans and their media friends set out to do. ‘Get Clinton’
was the impetus, if you want to call it this, which united Republicans who proved during the ‘95
primaries they were as divided as any group can be and still be called ‘a group’.
Clinton has since been the focus for them to stay united, united by their distasteful, disruptive partisan pursuit of a man who had won the trust of the majority.
Fifth, the people are sick and tired of the pursuit of President Clinton by all anti-Clintonites. This is not excusing away his actions - it is just stating a fact.
If the Republican Party continues as it has, it will lose increasing numbers of the people from its ranks. Everytime another Republican is found out to be as immoral, to have lied just as certainly as Mr. Clinton, we begin wondering what else has been done that hasn’t come out.
To sum it up, the Republican Grand Plan has backfired as all plans of evil eventually do. To disrupt the actions needed during this time of world and home need was an evil plan as
only self- and party-serving needs were considered, not the needs of this nation and its people.
Furthermore, as we all know, any plan to discredit another is certainly an evil plan which doesn’t necessarily rely on the truth. The truth is not one-sided. To insist upon the truth
from one is to insist on the truth from all. Republicans neglected (and still do) to apply this simple principle to themselves.
Thus, instead of hate by the public being focused on the person intended by the Republican Party, it has, instead, backlashed to them.
And, that, anti-Clintonites, is exactly as it should be.