An all-American yawn

The American version of the show trial has reached its depressing denouement. There he is, reportedly the most powerful politician on ear...

The American version of the show trial has reached its depressing denouement. There he is, reportedly the most powerful politician on earth, currently facing both camera and history. The Accused. Accused of “high crimes and misdemeanours”.

Metaphorically, he stands naked. Rather, stripped naked by the guardians of truth, keepers of sexual morality, worshippers of state-funded pornography. He lied under oath, he obstructed justice, he seduced the intern and sabotaged the presidency — goes the script of prosecution. The legacy-conscious, history-seeking Bill Clinton is today faced with a scenario where the legacy he would like to leave behind as well as the history he aspires to shape are in the hands of a few frustrated Republicans. What is now unfolding in the Senate is not a battle between truth and lies but a vaudeville of vindictiveness which refuses to evoke either amusement or awe. The last part of the impeachment trial is not a moment of national catharsis but a national yawn. For the Republicanpassion for punishment is not shared by the people. The high concept of impeachment has been reduced to low politics of revenge.

Revenge with a constitutional facade. The idea of impeachment is a celebration of Ameri-can constitutionalism. What is happening now in the Senate, or what has happened earlier in the House, is a manipulation of the constitution. For, though Clinton’s crimes are serious and worthy of punishment, they are not serious enough to invite an impeachment trial. What is at stake is not the state or its security. Presidential fellatio and lying about it are not high crimes. They are embarrassing truths about a man with high power and low character. Clinton is such a man, no doubt about that. And he deserves a rap for that. Americans seem to have no disagreement over this. Forget political consensus, there is no popular agreement on the impeachment of Clinton, a personal rogue but a brilliant president. Despite Kenneth Starr’s voluminous pornography, the Americans have refused to seeClinton as a national threat. The November elections were a clear indication of the distance between the Starr soap and social perception. The Monica Lewinsky peep show was a source of stimulation only for the witch-hunters of the GOP.

It is the most pathetic case of political desperation. Politician Clinton, a model for every socialist of the information age, has taken the best slogans out of the Republican text and he has done it in smartly executed ambushes in the political market. The Republicans have lost their economic and social lessons. Today they are indulging in the political alternative of cheap sex in the name of high morality. It is a crime worse than Clinton’s. Once upon a time, the Republican thought big, acted big, and his vision extended from the welfare of the citizen to the welfare of the whole world. President Clinton has made a distinctive mark, no not only in Monica’s dress but in the geopolitics of the ’90s. The scandalous presidency is also an effective presidency. He wanted to shapehistory. But a big girl with a visible thong is shaping his political destiny. That is the paradox. For history, he will be the flawed talent. Also, the Democrat who marked the Republicans’ total break with reality.