The Impeachment of Hillary Rodham Clinton

Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Those of you who know me well, know that I have always enjoyed following and discussing matters of history and politics. In this vein, I think it is fitting that my first posting on this blog should focus on a subject that is near and dear to my heart. So, it should come as no surprise to you that I have been following fairly closely and with interest the events surrounding the American Presidential campaign over the last so many, many months. Frankly, though I have been quite impressed and to some extent excited, for a number of compelling reasons, by the candidacy of Barack Obama, until now, I have felt somehow more aligned with the campaign and candidacy of Mrs. Clinton. But now, unfortunately, things have changed. The time has come, in this very important and close race, in my opinion, for Mrs. Clinton to take a big step back, consider what's best for the country, and hand the nomination over to her surely younger and less experienced, but surely very energetic, intelligent, multi-dimensional and leading rival for the Democratic party nomination, Mr. Obama.

Mrs. Clinton must do this for the following fundamental reason: Before she has even obtained the Democratic party nomination, not to mention won the general election and actually set foot in the White House as Commander in Chief, she already has been impeached. No, because she is not President just yet she has not been brought up on charges by the House of Representatives pursuant to the Constitution for high crimes and misdemeanors, as was her man, William Jefferson, when he was the Head of State. She has not been impeached in that manner. She has been, however, impeached by the media before the court of not only American but worldwide public opinion.

The kind of impeachment I am talking about is more like that which takes place in the context of cross-examination in the Anglo-American adversarial system of justice. For basic purposes of illustrating the point, a kind of law school 101 on cross-X, let's assume that the Prosecutor's main witness in a case, we’ll call him Shady, claims that the street lights on the corner where he witnessed the accused repeatedly stabbing the victim were working fine, thus providing sufficient lighting for him to make out the facial and other relevant physical features of the assailant who is now facing a significant number of years in prison based on the alleged aggravated assault. During cross examination, the defense lawyer makes sure to get Shady, the key witness, to re-confirm his story regarding the working of the lights and to further draw out that if in fact the lights were not working, it would have been difficult for Shady to make out the features of the assailant with such confidence and certainty. Shady so confirms and commits to his story and the clarification of the defense lawyer. Then, the lawyer presents records from the utility company that show without question that, in fact, on that day and time, the lights were not on as so stated because they were undergoing repair. This is classic impeachment. Shady’s credibility has been destroyed and everything else he has said to support the Prosecution’s case is now for all intents and purposes useless, assuming a reasonable and rational jury.

Are we not, as American citizens, in ways the judges and juries during this political campaign? We are the people, who must hold our political representatives accountable, for it is our government. If we are rational and reasonable, can we conclude otherwise than that Mrs. Clinton’s credibility, at a minimum, has been severely crippled and weakened, and at this most crucial juncture of the race and time for the American body politic. The video of Mrs. Clinton's speech about her mission to Bosnia in 1996 shows one thing, and the video and facts surrounding what actually happened upon the landing of her plane, indeed, plainly shows a very different, actually opposite, thing. A picture says a thousand words I have heard it said, and something is wrong with this picture. Hillary Rodham Clinton, as the potential first woman President running against the potential first man of color to be President, is now caught outright in a lie as she ridiculously distorts the record in order to appear that she was a brave and daring public official as first lady landing and exiting her plane in Bosnia during war and under fire. Well not quite - mission not quite accomplished, and trust me, I don’t really want to go there; that may be for a totally different but nonetheless related blog, as it goes to the heart of whether we are all, once again, again, and again, being lied to by our leaders, prospective or incumbent.

To make things worse with Hillary's situation, we’ve been through it all too much already with the Clintons and their impeachable ways. Are we heading for the Hill and Bill show redux? We know how Bill, Hill's beautiful, brilliant husband, spent all of all of his run for and two terms as President trying to avoid lawsuits, prosecutions and convictions in the media, courts of law and the U.S. Congress – and we all know that his only real crime was that of being a bit of a sex maniac and philanderer, and when it was all exposed and coming down on him, he took actions as the leader of the "free world" to protect his family and the American public from the unfolding soap opera and salacious details that could and would potentially follow. Truly though, who could have imagined cum shots on blue dresses, blow jobs in the oval office and the use of at least one cigar, and a Cuban Cohiba at that I believe (perhaps the use of this delicious Communist tobacco product was what truly inspired the wrath of the radical right wing conspiracy that Mrs. Clinton claimed was out to get them) to stimulate the primary erogenous zone of the intern and willing paramour, “that woman, Ms. Lewinsky”.

This candidate, Mrs. Clinton, thus is no longer deserving of the support she has been receiving from those that have been in her camp yet nevertheless very interested in the candidacy of the young turk, Mr. Obama. Mr. Obama’s quite a unique and impressive candidate who still has an awful lot to prove but he is a political force to be reckoned with, and he may just be the next President. What a background he has, and what a name, Barack Hussein Obama. Barack Hussein Obama is the offspring of a black skinned Kenyan and a white skinned Kansan, brown skinned American born in Honolulu, who attended an Islamic school in Indonesia as a youth, dominated at the best law school in the world, Harvard, where he was Editor-in-Chief of its Law Review, claims close connection and loyalty to a Christian Chuch whose Pastor inveighs against all the damning conduct and policies of primarily white America to a largely black congregation. I don't think it is totally unfair, however, to posit that in some measure "the chickens may be coming home to roost" - so what then are we going to do about it? He handles his criticisms and challenges gracefully, intelligently and with reasonable candor and creativity from what I can see so far. Big things and questions for this superstar politician now and for some time to come. By self admission, Barack Hussein Obama smoked, and inhaled, pot, more than once, which, I guess we can assume he won’t be doing in the oval office, though perhaps we can expect he might smoke a cigar in it from time to time. And if we listen closely enough to what he has to say, it is possible that in his second term, it might be legal for him to in fact enjoy a nice Cohiba cigar, grown and imported from Cuba with whom there is a new and exciting rapprochement taking place. Obama is new and different and stands for something that I think does indeed revolve around hope, confidence and change for the better.

What for me is most unfortunate about this scandal with Hillary is that I do like her. I am one of those who feels that whatever happens in this campaign between the Democrats, the main thing is for the winner to be able to defeat John McCain and the Republicans in November. I like the depth and range of Hillary's experience; I do like the fact that she has been as connected and involved in public and private power as any person running for the highest office in the known Universe has been; I like the way she rebounded in her own way from the humiliation she suffered during the scandals of slick Willie's time in office, entered New York politics, won and proved herself as a respected Senator; I like her mind and strong campaign pledges and commitment to making serious changes in major domestic issues, in particular regarding mandatory health care; and, last, but not least, I do like the idea of giving William Jefferson a chance to be back in the White House, and praise God Hallelujah and willing, only leading with and using his big head, which is quite big (I believe the Paula Jones transcripts describe in some intimate detail the size and qualities of Mr. Bill's other, smaller head, shall we call it), and to have some meaningful position to address very pressing and complex issues on the international and domestic fronts.

Yes, Bill was tried to be brought down by being brought up on those Constitutionally framed high crimes and misdemeanors, which were, to wit: Four Articles of Impeachment issued by the House of Representatives substantially dealing with Perjury and Obstruction of Justice arising from investigations regarding his alleged "whipping his little willie out" to Paula Jones and the aforementioned cum shots, blue dresses, cigars, and on, and on. The Senate trial on the charges of impeachment, Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist sitting as Chief Judge, resulted in an acquittal. Bill's approval ratings were in the 70% range at the height of these troubles mind you. The Clintons, back in the White House, with Barack Obama as V.P., or Secretary of State, or something very influential - this made sense to me. But now, after this, something is not right. There is loyalty and then there is ill guided blindness, not to mention hypocrisy, which all of us, not to mention our official representatives and politicos, could do with a lot less of.

There were no bullets flying or real threats posed by military combatants to Mrs. Clinton’s safety when that plane touched down in Bosnia in March of 1996 and she got off it with sixteen year old Chelsea right behind her to be greeted by a young girl bearing flowers. She made more than a mistake in how she described that trip and those events; and with all due respect to her human failings, we’re all human, what she did was lie to and let down, in my very honest opinion, her closest supporters and everyone else.

You have been impeached Mrs. Clinton, so it is now time to truthfully face and own up to it and not to spin or downplay it. And those super duper super delegates who may hold sway in this race, must too be swayed away from the Hill and Bill machine. What’s at stake for the Democratic Party and the country is much too important. It is time gracefully and respectfully to hand the race over to your worthy adversary, Mr. Obama, back him all the way so he can reclaim the White House and do his very best to live up to his campaign calls, and all the accolades he has garnered, and instill youth, vigor, sound judgment under pressure, accountability, transparency and rational policies and politics to the office of the Presidency. We need desperately a President who will be true and faithful to that, perhaps sacred, oath of office, as many rightfully consider it to be the highest office in what is all too often an irrational and unjust world.