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Staff Editorial

Editorial Cartoon

R. Alex Whitlock

"History will hunt you down," one historian threatened the House that eventually impeached the President.

"The public will not forget what happened here today," Minority Leader Dick Gephardt claimed.

Roughly a year ago, the United States Senate voted by margins of five and 10 votes respectively to absolve President Clinton of the charges of obstruction of justice and perjury, respectively.

Democrats and left-leaning folk all across the country claimed that this could be the death knell of the GOP. They did, after all, impeach a president against the will of the people. This would surely cost them the House in 2000 and show the public how "out of touch" the Republicans really were.

As the elections of 2000 approach, I wonder what happened to these predictions. The Republicans may indeed lose control of the House, but if they do it will have more to do with what they didn't do (a "do nothing" congress) instead of what they did (impeachment). The public, far from harboring anger towards the Republicans, is actually siding with them in larger numbers. The poll numbers of those who approve of the impeachment has raised 10 points over the past year.

I remember last winter very clearly. Eleanor Clift likened my view to the KKK and Alec Baldwin indirectly called me a psychopath. For those of you who weren't here or have forgotten, I was the only voice on the Cougar who advocated removal. It was particularly hard to hold that position as I wasn't a Republican and had voted for President Clinton two years prior.

I harbor no regrets. To me, it was never about sex (I really, honestly, never cared about the sex) but about the perjury that he committed covering it up. I didn't approve of most of Ken Starr's investigation, but I couldn't dismiss its findings just because I didn't like it.

Others disagree, and I understand that. My roommate, an ardent Democrat and Clinton supporter, will never see eye to eye with me, but I respect his opinion and assume he respects my differing one. Indeed, a number of Democrats have ironically approved of those "hate-mongers" who impeached the president.

The Democrats' favorite Republican is John McCain. Democrats have fallen all over themselves saying, "that's the kind of Republican I can tolerate," (which, for a Democrat, is a ringing endorsement). John McCain not only advocated the President's impeachment, but voted for his removal. Democrats have come to understand that it wasn't just malice, but rather there was some sincere concern among many that the President's crimes were impeachable.

Republicans have also buried the hatchet. Senator Orrin Hatch, who was running for president, was never confronted about his wavering support for Clinton's removal. McCain, on the other hand, has only gotten grief despite his 'yes' vote. Perhaps most tellingly, one of the GOP Senators who was chosen to respond to Clinton's State of the Union Address was Olympia Snowe, one of the five Republicans to vote against removal on both counts.

That says a lot about our country. It says that we're a practical-minded public, not vindictive or cursed to engage in never-ending debates of yesteryear. Far from being an example of our petty and spiteful nature, the impeachment issue has become an example of how we can put aside our past differences and forge ahead and look past yesterday into tomorrow.