©February 1999
Carol Jane Remsburg
NO IMPEACHMENT, NO FAIR OR FOUL
The word has come down from
the mount. William Jefferson Clinton has been acquitted.
The Senate has pompously postured throughout this joke of a trial that
they and the media all called an ordeal. In the last 24 hours
I’ve heard the rhetoric of how they’ve endured the process, faced the facts,
put it to the letter of the law, and subjected themselves to a moral stand so
much that even the spin doctors have become dizzy. What ordeal are they talking about?
All across this nation of
ours—and even outside of it, you’ll find many
differing viewpoints. I guess it all
depends on how you view life and our leaders.
Of course, I have my own viewpoint which is subject to
dissection and bias, we all do.
However, there are certain irrefutable facts that all of us feel queasy
about addressing. He made mistakes, he
lied about it, and he tried to cover it up.
Those are the bald, hairy, and ugly facts of it.
Okay, some will say that was
his private life and we had not part in it—meaning having an adulterous
relationship while on the job is no
one else’s business save his wife’s.
Okay, some will say that lying is a part of the presidential
process—even I’ll sometimes go for that one, but not
for personal gain. And, okay, some will also say that attempting to cover this “mistake” up was
to shield his family, not himself—Bull-hockey!
Some will also address this as a “gray area” that has no precedent. Well, this is the 90’s Jack, and he/it most
assuredly ain’t JACK!
Let’s address the first and foremost of the items. “He” made a mistake. Let me clarify that as in the dictionary as he seems wont to do, William Jefferson
Clinton was the recipient of oral sex, not sexual intercourse. Does that define it enough for you
honey? I guess Monica jumped him in the
hallway and he was unable to restrain her—she’s so big, and I’ve heard he’s really small. The girls on the corner and their customers
shouldn’t be getting arrested anymore because Willy
deems that not as sex thus it isn’t illegal.
He might not have paid her in cash, but he paid her with emotional
promises and gifts. Where’s
the true and real difference? His middle name should be “John.”
Still on
this “first” item. Any employer, from a Mom & Pop Shop to
the biggest corporation would have fired him outright. Okay, maybe the “big boys” may have made him
resign, but he’d still be gone. That kind of crap is history in today’s world.
As our highest ranking military officer
(Commander in Chief), he should also be subject to their rules. Guess who’d have
been court-martialed and served
time? Right again—go to the head of the
class!
I can go on and on simply
about the first item, but I feel that’s quite
enough. Let’s
amble over to the second, shall we?
He lied, under oath. I don’t care how you
slice it, dice it, or frappe it, he
still lied about it. Many even
sniggered over it thinking how “cute” he was doing it. So, we must recall
about a million plus folks that have gone to jail for perjury. I’m sorry, but lying
under oath is a bad thing. If you can’t confess your misdeeds go somewhere else where lying is
an accepted practice (join up at the Senate—they’ll have some open seats in the
next few years). It’s
been brought to my attention that we all make mistakes. Geez, well, I never thought of that one! Yes, and I have done things that I wouldn’t wish aired on national television, but nothing to
rival this. My marriage vows mean
that. Hey, if I want to head off to
“greener pastures” I’ll dissolve my marriage
first. I was then
asked if I was too pious or just too damned self-righteous. I’m not. I’ll give nearly
anyone a break because I am a softy, but not in this case. I’ll give you that
reason later—I promise, let’s just see if you can find it.
Let’s address the third issue. I wasn’t there and
you weren’t there, but does it require a genius to figure out that the push was
“not to have this ‘thing’ go public?” No
it doesn’t. Any
word from “him” or any of his associates would definitely promise the
moon—“if.” It doesn’t
even beg the question. Let’s get real here.
This isn’t about some back-street fellow asking
his buddies to cover for him, though that’s low and I don’t agree with that
either, it’s about the PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES. The idea here is that it goes without saying. He is supposed to be our hero, the best of the best, someone my daughter can look up
to, not hide from. I can only hope her
puberty is delayed enough until he is rendered
impotent. Keep in mind, the police haunt
and harry sexual predators, why are they not zoning
in on the White House?
Whether it’s
the questions my young daughter asks or his own daughter asks, I cringe. This is too ugly.
I’ve talked with dozens of people, seen the “People in the
Spotlight” in the local newspaper, the television, the radio, and the
polls. Women, generally, seem to want to
smooze this over. Please, an airsick bag must be kept at the ready at all times. I do not understand. Perhaps it’s the hair standing on the nape of
their necks, the goose-bumps, and the nausea that
makes them giddy.
Perhaps it’s
the naughtiness of it all. It’s the illicit portion that they can forgive that womankind
has forgiven their men over for eons past.
After all, it’s just sex. OOPS, it’s not “sex”
at all, but something else. He still
cheated on his wife, embarrassed his daughter to death, and ruined a hero-worship that the youth of
Or, perhaps, I’m wrong.
Yes, mayhap I am. Should we hero-worship
this man for his, ahem, mistakes.
They like those words, the spin doctors,
mistakes. We all make them, we all try
to learn from them, and most of us try not
to do them again. Hey, look at Slick
Willy, he doesn’t learn from them,
but he has adapted a really good smirk that the women
of
Where are
the Statesman? The men
who stood on principle and for honor?
They must be ho-hum. Hey ladies, it’s only “ho-hum” when it’s not your man. Jack may have been Jack for his term, but at
least we didn’t know about it. He may not have been my fan fav either, but he didn’t sully
his office until we knew about it later.
Besides, he paid his dues in a way I wouldn’t
even wish on Slick Willy.
Now that we’ve
covered it from A-Z, the “mistake,” the lie, the cover-up, what’s next for