Polity in Decadent Days

Before airing President Clinton’s taped testimony to a federal grand jury Monday, the television networks cautioned viewers that its contents were unsuitable for children. Many adults might also have found themselves disturbed, not only because of questions that focused on explicit sexual acts but because the president’s performance proved to be a civic embarrassment. Before he began answering questions Clinton swore to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. He spent the better part of the next four hours apparently trying to evade that responsibility, and it showed.

Time will reveal what the grand jury made of the testimony that it heard on Aug. 17. In the next few days the polls will tell us what the American people thought of it. We suspect it changed few minds. The tape was aired because a bipartisan majority in the House voted to release virtually all of the material that special counsel Kenneth W. Starr sent to Congress on his investigation into the affair between Clinton and Monica S. Lewinsky and because the Judiciary Committee decided along strictly partisan lines to rush the tape onto the airwaves. At a minimum the tape further erodes Clinton’s credibility as he ducks, dodges and repeatedly seeks refuge in his own uniquely constricted definition of what a sexual relationship is. The discomfort the president clearly experienced was shared by many who watched his performance.

This is not an occasion, though, for Clinton’s enemies to gloat. The scandal swirling around him will decide his political fate, but it also affects the health of our polity. American politics is now in a notably ugly, even decadent phase, one that is unlikely to end with the Clinton presidency. We have already seen that the mess growing out of Clinton’s efforts to cover up his private adulterous behavior defies containment. In the last few weeks three of Clinton’s critics in the House have been “outed” over prior sexual misbehavior. Rumors abound that others may be similarly exposed, to what compelling public purpose is unclear. Yes, character in public life matters. So do propriety and a respect for what decency allows in waging political battles.

Thoughtful members of both parties are starting to ponder how to resolve the Clinton impeachment matter in a way that would harm the country the least. That will be far from easy, for while the impeachment process is political, the issues giving rise to it--including the president’s possible perjury and obstruction of justice--are matters of criminal law and for the most part beyond Congress’ influence. Meanwhile, the process rolls on, with troubling precedents being set and vengeful paybacks no doubt being plotted. It is beyond time for all of the players--including the press, but most directly those in the White House and on Capitol Hill--to pause, take a breath and determine what can be done to demonstrate that apparent lying under oath is not excusable but neither is the political hysteria that has driven this painful process.