O n January 15, as House Republican prosecutors urged the Senate to remove the president from office, former Clinton adviser Dick Morris sat in a television studio, explaining how Clinton could beat the rap. While Congress was engrossed in the trial, Morris noted, Clinton was staging events to highlight tobacco legislation, money for extra cops, and other popular initiatives.
Public values defeat private scandal.
Morris wasn't speculating. He was quoting from the meeting agendas he wrote for Clinton's 1996 campaign. The agendas, which Morris has just published in a new edition of his book Behind the Oval Office , carry new significance today. They explain how Clinton survived 1998 and how Republicans, in seeking to destroy him, are instead destroying their own chances in 2000. The agendas illuminate three catastrophic political mistakes in the prosecution of Clinton.