COLUMN: America yawns as history is made

From Andrew Exum's, "Perilous Orthodoxy," Fall '99 From Andrew Exum's, "Perilous Orthodoxy," Fall '99You may remember the riddle that asks, "If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear, does it make a noise?" When Nixon was impeached, the public sat glued to their televisions during the proceedings. Today, even the major networks concede that won't happen with the Clinton trial. Simply put, the public isn't really interested in Clinton's fate, at least not as much as the media is. The media, on the other hand, doesn't really know what to make of the public's apathy. Michael Kinsley, sounding one of the lone trumpets of moral outrage, wrote in Time magazine that "the most significant political story of 1998 is not that the President had oral sex with a 22-year-old White House intern. The most significant political story of the year is that most citizens don't seem to think it's significant that the President had oral sex with a 22-year-old intern. "Yes, yes and he lied about it. Under oath. Blah, blah, blah. They still don't care. Rarely has such an unexpected popular consensus been so clear. And rarely has such a clear consensus been so unexpected." Here at Penn, our already-apathetic student body mirrors the rest of the country, at least as regards our consciousness of the current Clinton scandal. This past fall, I was arriving to class early one day when the guy a few rows down from my desk suddenly went off about the crisis in Washington. "I mean, the guy's about to get impeached and no one here even knows about it," he said. "He won't be found guilty, but I mean geez! Here at Penn, no one's even noticed yet!" As if on cue, the girl sitting next to him responded, "President Clinton's getting impeached? Huh." Other students around the girl had similar reactions, also unaware of the situation in Washington. Perhaps it's because we live in such an easy time. When Nixon was impeached, the country was on the rebound from America's most catastrophic conflict since the Civil War, not to mention racial tensions that kept the nation's city streets constantly on the verge of riot. The country as a whole was on edge, still reeling from the tumultuous '60s. Contrast that environment with the nation today: we're economically prosperous and face few international problems bigger than another Saddam Hussein tantrum. The Universal Code of Military Justice states that no armed serviceman -- that's me -- can make disparaging remarks about the commander-in-chief -- that's Clinton. For the sake of sparing the Pentagon the cost of a formal investigation, I won't state my personal opinion of President Clinton in the column, whatever it may be. I do feel obligated, however, to let you, the reader, know that I did a very small amount of work on Clinton's first campaign and voted for him in 1996 out of loyalty to fellow Tennesseean Al Gore, if for no other reason. I've already mused about the way in which this scandal reflects upon me, a Clinton voter. I'm resigned to my fate. If Clinton is convicted and removed from office, I think my reaction will be similar to my feeling when he was impeached: sadness. So far, all anyone has talked about is the mark this scandal will leave on Clinton's legacy. I think the effect will be bigger than that. If anything, the mark of impeachment will be something that our entire society will be burdened with. Clinton's legacy is ours as well. We will forever be those who grew up during his administration. In addition, the only thing worse than being remembered for Clinton's impeachment, I think, will be being remembered for not caring about it.