POLITICS-US: Impeach Clinton, But for What?

By Farhan Haq Reprint | | Print |

NEW YORK, Dec 13 1998 (IPS) - Bill Clinton has angered many of his U.S. constituents during the first six years of his presidency – but even his critics disagree about why they want him to leave office.

The House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment against Clinton on Friday, making him only the third U.S. president to face removal from office in the nations 222 years history. (The committee was to vote on a fourth article Saturday).

The committee vote followed a straight 21-16 Republican-Democrat party line and focusedon allegations of perjury, obstruction of justice and abuse of power.

All those charges, Clinton’s defenders argued, involved one relatively minor incident: The president’s misleading statements in a January civil case deposition that he did not have sexual relations with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

“Bill Clinton’s alleged crimes are not those of an errant president, but those of an unfaithful husband,” declared Abbe Lowell, minority counsel for the House Judiciary Committee.

Opinion polls showed most of the U.S. public agreed. One poll taken last week showed that more than 65 percent of respondents do not want to see Clinton impeached on the perjury charges.

Clinton, in a dramatic apology Friday, declard