Leaving it to grow in the dark

Thanks to the U.S. Senate, in particular to the partisan vote by its Democrats, America now finds itself in the position of patients who cross their fingers instead of getting the medical treatment they need: tentative, hoping against hope and living with a constant undertone of worry about the future.

Most of us have been in such circumstances. Told by a doctor or dentist that we need this removed or that replaced, we weigh the factors involved -- the cost, the loss of time at work, the inconvenience, the pain -- and decide to forego the recommended solution. After all, we feel fine now and can't see anything wrong when we look in the mirror. We know, deep down, that something deep down is threatening us, but we hope that nothing bad happens: that the decay won't spread or the tumor won't grow.

Most, if not all, of the Senators examined the American body politic and pronounced that it had a malignancy -- President Clinton. Even most members of his own party agreed that he had committed despicable and reprehensible acts; lied to his aides, the courts and Congress; and obstructed justice by tampering with witnesses and concealing evidence. Nevertheless, the Senate decided to leave an impeached President -- and someone they determined to be a felon -- in office. The Senators will now cross every finger they have in hopes that nothing else happens.

As a result, we are a nation on tenterhooks, a nation that knows our leader is a moral weakling who uses women and twists the truth to his ends. After his post-acquittal apology last week, the natural question to ask was: "Is he lying again?" We have the uneasy sense that something very wrong has been left to grow in the dark and will arise in the future in a form that cannot be ignored. A deepening cynicism is crawling across the land, a cynicism constructed from the cliches of the past year: "They all do it" and "It doesn't matter anyway" and "He's bad, but I feel good."

We are especially dismayed that no one distinguished himself or herself over the past 13 months. No selfless person stepped forward to lead us out of the mess Mr. Clinton created:

* The President himself could have saved us a year of strife and distraction (not to mention tens of millions of dollars) by resigning, but he has amply demonstrated that his decisions are based on what is good for him, not for others.

* Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman stuck his head out of the congressional hole last fall with a speech condemning the President but saw his own shadow and ducked back in.

* New York's Senator Daniel Moynihan immediately echoed Mr. Lieberman and then disappeared into an early retirement.

* Called the constitutional scholar of the Senate, Robert Byrd of West Virginia declared that the President was guilty of everything he was charged with -- and then decided to acquit him.

* Republican and Democratic women in the Senate, who should have been especially sensitive to the President's demeaning of Monica Lewinsky, and his lying to Madeline Albright and other female members of his cabinet and staff, and to his wife and his daughter, could only mutter negative adjectives as they left him in place.

Lastly, the American people decided in overwhelming numbers that their President was a perjurer who obstructed justice; but, like temporizing patients, they couldn't bear the thought of the costs his removal would bring. As a result, they chose their short-term comfort and convenience over their long-term health.

And so Americans find themselves not only at the end of a year when justice and truth were pummeled but also at the beginning of a future when they will find out exactly what it is they left to grow in the dark.

(02-18-99)

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