Living History by Unknown (the lemonade war series txt) 📗

Although the Middle East provided a positive picture at that time, Bill continued to monitor closely the defiance of Saddam Hussein, who refused to agree to a resumption of U.N. arms inspections in Iraq. From a political point of view, this was the worst possible time for a military response to Hussein. With the impeachment vote looming, any action by the President could be challenged as an attempt to distract or delay Congress. On the other hand, if Bill put off air strikes on Iraq, he could be accused of sacrificing national security to avoid the political heat. The Islamic holy month of Ramadan was imminent, and the window of opportunity for an attack was closing. On December 16, Bill’s defense and intelligence advisers informed him that the time was right. Bill ordered air strikes to knock out Iraq’s known and suspected weapons of mass destruction sites and other military targets.

An openly skeptical Republican leadership postponed the impeachment debate when the bombing started. “Clinton’s decision to bomb Iraq is a blatant and disgraceful use of military force for his own personal gain,” said Republican Congressman Joel Hefley.

Trent Lott, the Senate Republican Majority Leader, publicly disputed the President’s judgment. “Both the timing and the policy are subject to question,” he said of the military action. Lott backpedaled when his statement was interpreted as an indication that partisan politics came before national security in this Congress.

The House leadership was determined to force a vote on impeachment in the lame duck session, before the Republican majority was reduced to eleven members in January.

On December 18, as bombs fell on Iraq, the impeachment debate began. I had refrained from making any direct public statement for several months, but that morning I spoke to a group of reporters outside the White House. “I think the vast majority of Americans share my approval and pride in the job that the President’s been doing for our country” I said.

“And I think in this holiday season, as we celebrate Christmas and Chanukah and Ramadan―

and at the time for reflection and reconciliation among people―we ought to end divisiveness because we can do so much more together.”

Dick Gephardt asked me to meet with the House Democratic Caucus on Capitol Hill, right before the scheduled votes on the articles of impeachment. Standing before the Democrats the next morning, I thanked everyone for supporting the Constitution, the Presidency and the leader of their party, my husband.

“You all may be mad at Bill Clinton,” I said. “Certainly, I’m not happy about what my husband did. But impeachment is not the answer. Too much is at stake here for us to be distracted from what really matters.” I reminded them that we were all American citizens living under the rule of law and that we owed it to our system of government to follow the Constitution. The case for impeachment was part of a political war waged by people determined to sabotage the President’s agenda on the economy, education, Social Security, health care, the environment and the search for peace in Northern Ireland, the Balkans and the Middle East―everything we, as Democrats, stood for. We couldn’t let it happen. And no matter how the vote went that day, Bill Clinton would not resign.

We all knew last-ditch efforts to avoid impeachment would fail. Walking out through the marble corridors that had seen so much of American history, I was saddened for my country as our cherished system of laws was abused in what amounted to an attempted congressional coup d’etat. As a freshly minted law school graduate, I had studied the politically motivated impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. As a member of the congressional staff that had investigated Richard Nixon, I knew how hard we worked to ensure that the impeachment process was fair and conducted according to the Constitution.

This grave event was nearly upstaged by a bizarre drama on the floor of the House.

The night before the voting began, Bob Livingston, the designated Speaker, was exposed as an adulterer. By Saturday morning, as Livingston stood before his colleagues in the grand House chamber of the Capitol, everyone knew he admitted that he had “strayed” in his marriage. Moments after he demanded the President’s resignation, amid heckles and angry shouts from the floor, he stunned everyone by resigning his position as Speaker, another unintended victim of his own party’s campaign of personal destruction. Like Gingrich, he left the House.

Two articles were defeated, two were adopted. Bill was impeached for perjury in the grand jury and obstruction of justice. He would now be put on trial in the U.S. Senate.

After the impeachment vote, a delegation of Democrats rode buses from the Capitol to the White House in a show of solidarity with the President. I linked arms with Bill as we walked out of the Oval Office to meet them in the Rose Garden. Al Gore gave a moving statement of support, calling the House vote on impeachment “a great disservice to a man I believe will be regarded in the history books as one of our greatest Presidents.” Al’s approval rating, like mine, soared. The American people had figured out what was going on.

Bill thanked everyone who had stuck by him and promised not to give up. He would serve, he said, “until the last hour of the last day of my term.” It was a peculiarly upbeat gathering, given the terrible event that had just occurred, and I was grateful for the public testimonial to Bill. But I was working hard to contain the pain I felt gathering in my back.

By the time the event ended and I walked back to the residence, I could hardly stand.

The timing was very bad, because it was Christmas season, and impeachment or no impeachment, the White House was hosting receptions day and night, and that meant standing in receiving lines for hours. I survived a few of them, but soon I was flat on my back and