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Jewish World Review June 28, 2005 / 21 Sivan, 5765 Behind the Clinton legacy By Kathryn Lopez
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
By now, you've no doubt run into "The Truth About Hillary" (Penguin,
2005), the gossipy book by a former New York Times man who has the
kind of credentials that make a fella welcome at all the finest
Gotham cocktail parties.
The book, paints an unflattering portrait of the former first lady,
who author Edward Klein described to me as "the most fascinating
woman in America."
And for this, the Clintons — Bill and Hill — can be grateful.
Ironically, much ink has been used (or keys pounded) accusing
conservatives for flacking the book (who on the whole, aren't). The
truth about "The Truth" is: It's a good thing for the Clinton Legacy
Patrol. The advantage for the Clintons in the Klein job is one for
the history books: It helps perpetuate the long-standing myth that
the Bill Clinton impeachment trial was all about sex.
It wasn't.
Back around 1994, an independent counsel was appointed by Bill
Clinton's attorney general (Janet Reno, not Ann Coulter) to
investigate a land deal that went awry. That same attorney general
would then ask a court to expand the investigation to encompass a
sexual harassment suit filed by one Paula Jones.
Maybe you recall, too, the stories about independent counsel Ken
Starr humming hymns around the office. The "Religious Right" invaded
the private life of a president. Or so was the often-repeated claim
on Keith Olbermann's "Endless Days and Nights of Impeachment Hell"
or whatever show you were watching was. They were all the same.
Almost about sex.
As was common at the time, Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen
declared sympathetically that President Clinton "has been mortified,
subjected to an Orwellian intrusion by the gumshoes of the state."
Clinton defenders loved to use the phrase "sexual McCarthyism" - so
much so that one of them, liberal law professor Alan Dershowitz,
wrote a book on it.
The Congressional Record, however, tells a wholly different story.
It wasn't all about sex. And, at bottom, the sex and the lies and
the depositions were all of Bill Clinton's making.
As my colleague Rich Lowry wrote in his book on the Clinton
presidency, "Legacy" (Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2003) accusing Ken
Starr of being obsessed with sex "was a little like attacking a bank
examiner for being 'obsessed with fraud.'" He continued, "Starr
couldn't help it that Clinton had happened to perjure himself over
his sexual conduct during a deposition in a sexual harassment case."
Clinton, as president, actually committed crimes. And, for that, the
Founding Fathers stipulated punishment.
What crimes did the House of Representatives find sufficient evidence for which to require Bill Clinton to stand trial before the Senate?
Providing "perjurious,
false and misleading testimony" to a grand jury and of obstruction
of justice "in an effort to delay, impede, cover up and conceal"
evidence. As it happens, the 42nd president of the United States
was, as former White House aide Lanny Davis has admitted, "within
inches of losing the presidency." And that was of his own doing, not
Ken Starr's. It's hard to get around the "I" word, but try they
will. Lowry summed up the work of the perpetual Legacy Repair
Project: impeachment is "an indelible stain on his legacy that he
and his defenders will spend all time railing against and futilely
attempting to erase." And here we are.
She's a self-described
No-Tammy-Wynette-stand-by-my-man-cookie-baking feminist who not only
stood by her man, but watched, outraged at the wrong side, as her
husband inspired a mother of feminism (Gloria Steinem) to proclaim a
one-free-grope rule for men.
The less fact-facing in the air, the better for the Clintons.
Keeping attention off substance and in the presidential pants and
senatorial skirt has got to make the Legacists smile. A conspiracy
theorist would think Bill Clinton's infamous war room reunited to
write those sections for Klein.
I might even call it a Vast Left Wing Conspiracy if Matt Lauer asked
me about it. It would be about as reality-based as a lot of the
Clinton camp's chatter.
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