Clinton Library to be Dedicated Today
November 18th, 2004
Former President Bill Clinton's library is to open today. Surprisingly enough, it does make mention of the scandals that surrounded his presidency, albeit in a quite slanted fashion (of course). The scandal exhibit, called "The Fight for Power," mentions Lewinsky by name and includes sections called "Politics of Persecution" and "A New Culture of Confrontation."
As always, Slick Willy is unable to fess up to his failings. Using phrases like those above, the new Presidential Library slams the investigations into Clinton's activites and does not once express regret at all for his actions. Some of the text from the exhibits:
"The impeachment battle was not about the Constitution or the rule of law, but was instead a quest for power that the president's opponents could not win at the ballot box," says one exhibit placard in a library alcove titled "The Fight for Power."
"In this combustible climate, the congressional Republicans took the politics of personal destruction to a new level, using the subpoena power to investigate Democrats, attack them in a number of public hearings and attempt to change popular public policies by discrediting the president and members of his administration personally," says another.
Also, of note, Clinton supporters have been jumping to the library's defense:
Mr. John Podesta (Clinton Chief of Staff, 1998 – 2001) noted that none of the other 11 presidential libraries deal as frankly with scandal.
"I don't think there's an 'Iran-Contra' alcove in the Reagan library," he said, laughing, unaware that the library does treat the affair. "There'll be partisans on both sides who think it's too much or too little, but I think it's an honest treatment that will stand the test of history."
But there are instances in the exhibit that, while technically true, skirt the edge of truth. For instance, one placard in the alcove states that although seven separate investigations of the Clinton administration cost more than $100 million, "none of these efforts yielded a conviction for public misconduct."
In fact, at least 14 persons were convicted in the Whitewater investigation for fraud or conspiracy involving bogus loans through public institutions, mail fraud and income-tax evasion, among others. Mr. Clinton himself agreed to a five-year suspension of his Arkansas law license as a means to end the Lewinsky inquiry and head off an Arkansas court move to punish him for misleading answers in a deposition taken during the Paula Jones sexual-harassment suit.
As mentioned above, Ronald Reagon's library has an extensive section on Iran-Contra and Richard Nixon's library in devotes a huge portion to Watergate.
The Watergate exhibit at the Nixon Library is actually its largest and even includes the actual impeachment tapes. Some of the tapes are played for visitors, including the "smoking gun" conversation on June 23, 1972, when the president is first told of White House Counsel John Dean's idea to pressure the FBI to abandon the investigation of the Democratic National Committee break-in at the Watergate building.
In the case of the Reagan Library, Mr. Reagan's famous speech taking full responsibility is shown in the introductory video, and a "book on the wall" draws from presidential papers explaining the scandal.
So, in the end, Bill Clinton still cannot take responsibility!
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