Far be it from me to dissent from the opinion of my fellow citizens, but there's a disconnect here somewhere. Clinton's certainly in a position to give it to us. By the time he's done, he'll probably demand his legal fees and a congressional apology for the hurt caused to him, his family, and the country. I don't know about you, but in retrospect, I wish the Senate had dropped its constitutional pretense at the outset and devoted itself instead to picking someone to count the White House silver after Clinton leaves. How long Clinton's mesmerizing effect will last is anyone's guess, but my own is that once he's gone from office, history will not be kind to him.
Polls are notoriously fickle things.
That will remain so despite the failure of the Senate to place a scarlet letter next to his name in the history books. Those who question this may wish to reflect on his meeting last month with the Holy Father in St. Louis. As the World's Greatest Deliberative Body dithered, uncertain whether to honor their incumbency or the Constitution, Bill Clinton slithered out of Washington to bask in the sun of a truly great man. But the Holy Father, who has spent more hours in the confessional than Bill Clinton spends reading polls, and who has no need of photo-ops with presidents or kings, no doubt had some other purpose in mind. What was said between the two we shall never know for sure, although it is easier to imagine what the pope might have said than what Mr. Clinton said in return.