He has forced Lewinsky's mother to listen to her daughter's intimate phone calls. To determine whether Clinton committed perjury when he said he didn't have consensual sex with an intern. The Supreme Court, perhaps much to its regret, ruled that a president cannot avoid a civil suit while in office. So Paula Jones, who claims Clinton made a sexual advance years ago, is going to trial. But what the justices didn't anticipate was the circus the case has become, with Jones's lawyers subpoenaing anyone rumored to have had a relationship with Clinton and now Starr piggybacking on that case.
Perjury is a serious crime, and lies are wrong.
But there also must be balance in subjecting public officials, especially a sitting president, to investigation. The Lewinsky matter fails the test of proportionality. This is not the type of stuff worthy of driving any president out of office or to distraction. The job is too demanding, the Constitution too sacred and the nation's business too grave for that. Clinton's critics claim that the president has failed to state clearly the case against Iraq because personal troubles are diverting his attention.