Fifteen years ago today, on Feb. 12, 1999, the U.S. Senate voted not to convict President Bill Clinton on two impeachment charges brought against him by the Republican House. Neither vote came close to the 67 votes required by the Constitution.
At the time the Senate was voting on whether to remove him from office, Clinton enjoyed a 68 percent job approval rating. On the day the GOP House voted to impeach him, his Gallup approval was 73 percent. Voters did not agree with Republicans then howling for his head.
I offer these reminders not merely because of the anniversary, but because they are once again relevant to current affairs. In recent weeks, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, a likely presidential candidate, has been trying to draw attention and news coverage by condemning Bill Clinton as an “unsavory character,” using the former president as a means to attack his wife, Hillary.
“What if that unsavory character is your husband?” Paul asked on one recent network news appearance. “What if that unsavory character is Bill Clinton, raising money for people across the country, and what if he were someone that was guilty of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior at the workplace – which, obviously, having sex with an intern at the office is inappropriate by any standard.”
“I think really the media seems to have given President Clinton a pass on this. He took advantage of a girl that was 20 years old and an intern in his office,” Paul said on another show. “There is no excuse for that and that is predatory behavior.” The senator went on to acknowledge that Hillary Clinton shouldn’t be judged based on what her husband did, but … “this was with regard to the Clintons. It’s hard enough to separate one from the other.”
Earlier this week, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus endorsed Paul’s approach, warning that “everything’s on the table” in going after Hillary.
“I think we’re going to have a truckload of opposition research on Hillary Clinton, and some things may be old, and some things might be new,” Priebus said. “But I think everything is at stake when you’re talking about the leader of the free world.”
It’s important to note that there’s objective truth to what Paul is saying about the former president’s despicable behavior with a White House intern. It was indeed irresponsible, both personally and politically, and will always be a black mark on his presidency. However, it’s also important to remember the rest of the story: By losing all sense of proportion and perspective, Republicans turned what should have been a crippling mistake into a source of political strength for Clinton, transforming him into the martyr, rather than the villain, in that historical melodrama.
And it cost them. As the ‘98 mid-terms approached, House Speaker Newt Gingrich bragged that his party would gain as many as 30 seats as a result of the Clinton scandal. Instead they lost five, and the speaker was forced to resign as a result.
With the passage of 15 years, I just can’t imagine that a reprise of the GOP approach would pay any better dividends. The damage that Bill Clinton’s behavior did to his marriage appears to have healed, and in politics as in real life, if the spouse forgives and moves on, the rest of the world tends to do the same. Women in particular are likely to react poorly to a reprise, and you’d think that Republican strategists recognize that danger.
Maybe they hope that by raising the issue so early, it will serve as a warning about the type of campaign that’s ahead, and thus keep Hillary Clinton out of the race. The comments by Priebus would support that theory. If so, I’m doubtful. Backing down doesn’t seem her style. As I mentioned to a friend the other day, she’s the type you want with you in a bar brawl. She’d be throwing punches while Bill stood in the corner, chatting up the waitress.
And with the issue now broached, it will be interesting to see whether the GOP can do what it could not do back in the late ’90s, which is to restrain its worst instincts and worst players and keep their critique of Hillary Clinton at least somewhat within the bounds of reality and decency.
These intervening 15 years don’t offer a lot of encouragement in that regard.
