COLUMN: Please go away, Mr. Clinton

From Mark Fiore's, "The Right Stuff," Fall '99 From Mark Fiore's, "The Right Stuff," Fall '99Shame on you, William Jefferson Clinton. Exactly one year ago tomorrow, you stood before a national audience, wagged your finger condescendingly and smugly told the country: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky." Politically, removal from office is a hard pill to swallow, but legally you are as guilty as the 115 individuals locked up in federal prison on perjury convictions. The two articles of impeachment provide clear and convincing evidence that you engaged in criminal activity. On the perjury charge -- a crime that typically carries a punishment at least as severe as bribery -- you stand accused of lying under oath in your August 17, 1998, grand jury appearance, in which you said you had testified truthfully in your Paula Jones deposition. In a clear cover-up that borders on the absurd, you affirmed that you had said -- among other falsehoods -- that you could not recall being alone with Lewinsky or receiving any gifts from her. You also reiterated your previous false claim that Lewinsky's affidavit -- in which she denied engaging in sex "of any kind" with you -- was true. And you lied about the number of times you had sexual encounters with Lewinsky, when they started and what exactly occurred during them. The obstruction of justice article includes so much evidence against you that it's hard to believe at least some of your actions were not on the up-and-up. You stand accused of encouraging Lewinsky to deny your relationship, of telling your secretary, Betty Currie, to retrieve gifts you had given Lewinsky and of pushing Vernon Jordan into finding a job for the intern. You also face charges of asking Currie leading questions -- "Monica came on to me and I never touched her, right?" -- in an effort to influence her possible testimony and of lying to your aides about the affair. Combined, each charge make an exceptionally strong case against you. Shame on you also, Mr. Clinton, for repeatedly blaming others for the sordid spectacle you have solely brought on yourself and this nation. You have unjustly targeted and attacked Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr for more than a year. It is he you accuse of bringing your private life into the public realm. It is he you blame for letting the American public know of your penchant for cigars. It is he you deride for spending more than $40 million and four years investigating your activities. The fact remains, however, that if you had acted properly in the first place, Starr would have nothing to investigate. You forget that an investigation is only the effect of another's actions -- it is never the cause. Yet you have continuously tried to shift the blame to Starr. After your grand jury testimony, instead of offering an apology to the nation, you had the audacity to attack the independent counsel yet again. "This has gone on too long, cost too much and hurt too many innocent people," you said. It certainly has, Mr. Clinton, but that's because of you, not Kenneth Starr. Now that Starr has receded from the picture, your have scapegoated the Republican Party. During the House impeachment debate and the Senate trial, you and your attorneys have repeatedly accused the Republicans of partisanship and politically motivated actions. In announcing that the White House team would add Democrats to its legal defense last week, your press secretary, Joe Lockhart, said the Democrats would explain how the House impeachment "moved forward in a very partisan way, and in a way that was not fair to the president." What you and Lockhart seem to forget is that it is the Democrats -- not the Republicans -- who have turned the issue into a partisan debate. If Democrats were not so blinded by their partisan loyalty to you, they would inevitably vote for your removal from office -- in accordance with the law. Perhaps the senators of the Democratic Party will come to their senses before the trial is over. If they do, Mr. Clinton, you will realize that you -- and only you -- are to blame for your ruined presidency. Shame on you also, Mr. Clinton, for manipulating the public in an attempt to keep the nation's support despite your lack of character and degradation of leadership. You constantly parade your press secretary and other loyalists into the spotlight to tout your inexplicably high approval ratings and your administration often makes note of the fact that "only" 30 to 40 percent of the nation believes you do not belong in office. For some reason, you seem to think that if less than 50 percent of the public wants you out of office, then you are in a comfort zone. Truth be told, the current percentage of the nation that no longer supports you as president is already entirely too high. Perhaps such popularity results from your knack for telling the nation's voters what they want to hear, like your State of the Union address, in which you promised everybody and his uncle a massive piece of the American pie. Such foolish games are transparent -- and will never hold up when the public realizes that nowhere near the amount of money exists to pay for your lavish programs. Despite your best efforts, Mr. Clinton, your charades and your illegalities have brought dishonor on yourself, the presidency and the nation. For everyone's good, you should leave office, either voluntarily or by force of the law.