Monday, January 25, 1999

GOP loses sight

Even though the state of the union is strong, President Bill Clinton is backed into a corner.

He can do no right in the eyes of the country's Republicans.

Regardless of America's balanced budget, strong economy and low unemployment, the president is the subject of the right wing's anger and scrutiny.

As a result, America is in a state of total political division.

It has not been so clearly divided between party lines as it is today for decades. One need not say much more than "Democrat" or "Republican" to infer a thinking so utterly different from the other. The middle ground has been all but obliterated.

Republicans have made clear they see Clinton as a disgrace to the office of the president. The half-hearted clapping and snickering on their side of the isle during the State of the Union address reinforced this.

Unclear, however, is how a personal and private decision made by the president detrimentally effected the way Republicans collectively feel about Clinton.

Unfortunately, it seems this deep-rooted anger developed and began to grow prior to the recent scandal and like any such internal resentment it came to a head and exploded on the impeachment-hearing floor. The desire to see this president go down has created an extremely competitive situation in which both sides must fight until the bitter end.

This is why the country is in the middle of a head-spinning, time and money-consuming hearing.

The bottom line is, if Clinton is impeached no future president will be safe from impeachment. His or her past will be flawed just like the lives of so many others.

In addition, it sets off a chain reaction of finger pointing and blame. As it stands now, who in their right mind would subject themselves or thier families to such severe prying and prodding?

If Clinton is guilty of anything, it is of not making clear, from the beginning, that his private affairs are his and his family's business.

End of story.