I doubt the public wants a president impeached for lying about sex, or even encouraging others to. But there are two deeper offenses which grow out of what the President has already admitted to, which pose far greater threats to his presidency, and which make it especially difficult for the nation to move on. Consider, too, that the liaison went on for many months, and that there was a high probability that Monica would talk about it with friends, family or others, that it occurred in and around the Oval Office, where security guards and gatekeepers would see her come and go, and that it included gifts and telephone calls which would constitute further evidence of a relationship. Consider all of this, and you are likely to be baffled by Clinton's behavior. You might conclude that something is not quite right with the President.
Power inevitably subsides.
And yet, they are still performances. Last January, the President told America with stunning conviction that he had not had a sexual relationship with Ms. Lewinsky. Many who witnessed both television performances thought the January one the more convincing. Hence, Clinton's second problem. Despite protestations that the Lewinsky affair was his private business, the betrayal was indubitably public because the denials were so passionately public.