The Michigan Review

GOP Won't Impeach Clinton

by Jacob Oslick

For the past six years, President Clinton has topped the “enemies” list of prominent Republican activists throughout the country. Their animosity was driven by two main factors: a general dissatisfaction with Clinton’s left-leaning agenda, and political calculations designed to shore up the conservative base. One would then logically think that with Kenneth Starr’s damning ethics report now reaching Congress, and the President’s ineffective, non-apologetic apologies, these forces would be licking their chops to strike the final blow on a wounded presidency. However, such logic neglects the original reason for their anger in the first place: the two conditions mentioned above. Therefore, in the coming months expect Republicans to talk big and do little, knowing strong action will only bolster the Democrats in 2000.

The scandal has already had a big impact on public policy: total distraction and disinterest in the Clinton agenda. Long forgotten are the President’s (misguided) promises to extend Medicare to the age of 55, increase the minimum wage, drastically increase the role of the federal government in education, and support tougher environmental laws. In its place the media and the public have been captivated by tales of stained dresses and Talmudic distinctions regarding the definition of sexual relations. Perhaps the clearest example of this phenomenon is the recent bombing of Sudan and Afghanistan. Although it was a major military strike, the media spent a considerable period of time drawing comparisons to the film Wag the Dog, where a fictional President uses warfare to divert attention from a domestic sex scandal. Thus, if this was the President’s intention with the bombings, the strategy didn’t work, as the country found a way to link foreign policy to his domestic affair.

By and large, Republicans are satisfied with the current situation. They know that much of the President’s agenda, while fiscally disastrous (i.e., expanding Medicare), would be immensely popular with the public. Still scarred from the budget debates of 1995, Republicans would prefer that large social programs remain at the back of the national agenda. However, a President Gore, free of most of Clinton’s baggage, would be free to direct policy any way he chooses, forcing Republicans into a Hobson’s choice of passing something they detest, or facing a stream of campaign commercials calling them foes of the elderly, the young, the poor, and the planet. Thus, instead of impeachment, look for Republicans to drag out impeachment proceedings, keeping public attention away from liberal causes. This would also give them the benefit of appearing strong, but responsible and non-partisan.

Similarly, Republicans have in mind the elections of 2000. Many are eagerly awaiting the opportunity for a crack at challenging Gore. Devoid of Clinton’s Machiavellian charisma, Gore instead resembles the trees he staunchly defends. As a speaker he is dull, and as a character, a remarkable bore. In short, he is a man easily defeated in a fair competition. The last thing Republicans (especially Presidential hopefuls such as John McCain) want is to grant Gore the advantages of incumbency. They certainly don’t want to give him the opportunity of two years outside of Clinton’s (pardon the pun) stained shadow, or the chance to earn accomplishments on his own.

If President Clinton were a man obsessed with ideology instead of power, the greatest thing he could do for his legacy is resign. Immediately he would be transformed into a man who put the interests of the country over his selfish political motives. Almost certainly, his resignation would also create a backlash against his conservative pursuers, who would be seen as driving out a morally imperfect but highly effective man from office over personal indiscretions. Fortunately for Republicans, President Clinton is not such a man. If he were, he would not have hid behind every presidential privilege, both real and imagined. He would not have misled his staff, or humiliated his political allies. Thus ironically the evasion, stonewalling, and political spinelessness that have given Republicans fits over the past six years are now their salvation. Which is why, despite their public statements, Newt Gingrich and Co. are secretly thinking “Viva President Pinocchio.” MR

This article was published in the 16 September 1998 edition of The Michigan Review (Volume 17, Number 1).
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