Seven Months Late

Cornered in a trap of his own making, President Clinton has acknowledged to a federal grand jury that he had an inappropriate relationship with a young intern in the White House and then, as most of us already had guessed, he lied about it in statements to the American people. Following his unprecedented 4 1/2 hours of testimony to the jury Monday, by closed-circuit video from the White House, Clinton went on national television to confess the affair, express regret and take “complete responsibility” for his actions. Finally.

He attempted to explain why he misled people, including, he said, his wife. Clinton acknowledged that one reason was to protect himself from the embarrassment of his own conduct. Yet even as he apologized, Clinton sought to score political points by questioning the motives of independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr.

Americans have a right to feel disappointment in this president.

The key question is this: Will Clinton’s actions on Monday be enough to satisfy the public and to appease Whitewater counsel Starr and members of Congress? Barring some dramatic new disclosure, Clinton should be able to survive the final two years of his second term in office. But under the best of conditions, he will be a damaged chief executive, one who demonstrated incredibly bad judgment by having a relationship with a White House intern and then lying about it to the nation.

Think of all the grief Clinton could have saved himself, his family, the White House staff and the country if he had only spoken the same words last January. Hillary Rodham Clinton, as well as his aides, loyally supported him. Americans empathize with those surely feeling the sting of his betrayal.

The people’s judgment will emerge in the next few days as they talk to pollsters and to members of Congress. If Americans seem to accept Clinton’s apology, and his denial that he asked anyone to lie, there may be no great clamor for the House of Representatives to begin impeachment proceedings that ultimately could result in a Senate trial to determine whether he should be removed from office. But that decision also depends on the nature of Starr’s evidence and report to Congress. If Starr presents a compelling case against the president on allegations of perjury or obstruction of justice, or both, it would be difficult for the House to brush it aside. But in any event, Starr should wrap this up quickly.

Over the past four years, Starr was relentless in his pursuit of Clinton, from his investigation of Whitewater and other unrelated issues to focusing on the Monica Lewinsky matter. But the problem is less Starr’s lack of proportion in this case than the freedom the present independent counsel law gives him to pursue almost any string of evidence. Congress must deal with this when it reviews the law next year.

Clinton hopes his actions Monday will help put the matter behind him. Those hopes are shared by most Americans, who from the beginning have shown a proper distaste with the turn of events that transformed an investigation of a wayward Arkansas land deal that occurred while Clinton still was governor of Arkansas into what in effect became an investigation of the president’s sex life.

Americans do want to forgive and try to forget. We all know more about the confessional president than we ever wanted. The problem is, Bill Clinton made a similar confession before and suggested it was all in the past. It wasn’t. On this issue, he has no credibility. Now he has to regain Americans’ trust on matters of greater national import as he continues to try to lead this nation.