If this is the centerpiece of the Republicans' presidential hopes, they're in deep trouble. We're clean, unlike that scoundrel in the White House. There are several drawbacks to this approach. First, the process of impeaching the president has exposed the feet of clay of many of his prosecutors. Some attempt to explain away their affairs and infidelities as youthful indiscretions, but the public isn't stupid.
People know hypocrisy when they see it.
If so, it is out of touch with the public, which long ago realized that presidential politics wasn't about electing saints. If so, the GOP is inviting the kind of scrutiny that Gary Hart invited in 1987, the kind of scrutiny that might disqualify intriguing candidates like Gov. George W. Bush of Texas and Sen. John McCain of Arizona. Second, a campaign based on restoring moral leadership in the White House takes the Republicans in a direction they should not want to go. Besides, whichever Republican is left standing next year will not be facing Bill Clinton. Third, excessive attention to the president's sins will not long mask the problems at the core of Republicanism.