Nobody
Marched to Impeach Bill Clinton
By Linda Milazzo
07/09/07 "ICH'
-- -- -NOBODY marched to impeach Bill Clinton. Angry
citizens DIDN’T fill the streets, carry signs and beg a
non-responsive Congress to do its Constitutional duty and
remove Bill Clinton from his job. Panels WEREN’T held across
the nation, moderated by Constitutional scholars who loved
their country so much that they traversed its full span to
inform packed audiences of the high crimes Bill Clinton had
done.
Nope. That DIDN’T happen.
In 1998, thousands upon thousands of Americans DIDN’T call,
write, fax and visit their elected leaders every day
imploring them to impeach Bill Clinton. Millions of citizens
DIDN’T believe that the rest of the world wanted Bill
Clinton impeached. Groups of citizen activists DIDN’T band
together to camp out at their Representatives’ homes and
District Offices for days, sometimes weeks, holding “Impeach
Bill Clinton” signs and wearing “Impeach Bill Clinton”
T-shirts. Thousands of cars DIDN’T bear “Impeach Bill
Clinton” bumper stickers.
Nope. That DIDN’T happen.
Average citizens DIDN’T travel to Washington, DC to walk the
Halls of Congress and seek audiences with their elected
officials demanding to have Bill Clinton impeached.
Nuh-uh!
“Impeachment Centers” WEREN’T opened dedicated to impeaching
Bill Clinton like the one in Los Angeles that opened on the
Fourth of July, dedicated to impeaching George Bush and Dick
Cheney.
Hundreds of people DIDN’T join together in a park on a
national holiday for an impeach-Bill-Clinton-rally the way
they joined together in a park in Los Angeles on Wednesday
for an impeach-Bush-and-Cheney-rally.
In 1998, the people DIDN’T need to inspire Congress to
impeach Bill Clinton. The 105th Congress couldn’t wait to
throw the popular President out of his job. In fact they
impeached Bill Clinton even though we-the-people implored
them not to.
Of course, there were some Americans in 1998 who bought the
smear and destroy campaign by the rabid Republican
spin-machine and rabid Republican legislators to impeach
Bill Clinton under the guise of restoring the Presidency.
These duped citizens were conned by mainstream media’s daily
theatrics, directed by then-adulterer Congressman Henry
Hyde, then-adulterer Speaker Newt Gingrich, then drug-addict
Rush Limbaugh, future-indicted Congressman Tom Delay, and
Special Pornographer Kenneth Starr. (My apologies to Larry
Flynt).
How ironic for Gingrich and Hyde that Clinton was caught
with his pants down just as they were dropping theirs. How
further ironic that the lynchpin asserting the case for
Clinton’s impeachment was Ken Starr’s obsessively compiled
pornographic tome, whereas Americans today have a virtual
library of scholarly books on the Constitutional merits of
impeaching Bush and Cheney. Thanks to Mr. Starr’s salacious
expose, it is likely his lurid accounting of a private
consensual affair will be his singular most powerful climax.
The fact is, during the 105th Congress’s impeachment of Bill
Clinton, Clinton’s public APPROVAL rating was a positive
73%. Conversely, as the current 110th Congress takes NO
action to impeach George W. Bush, Bush’s public APPROVAL
ratings range between 28 and 36%.
This means that the people’s well-liked President Clinton
was penalized, while the people’s despised President Bush is
allowed to stay on.
If this isn’t a failure of democracy of, for, and by the
people, then what is?
The 105th Congress’s impeachment of Bill Clinton was an
elitist backlash to pummel an Arkansas poor-boy for
dethroning the patriarch of the ruling class. Unfortunately,
the 110th Congress conforms to the same eliticism, refusing
to impugn the progeny of that same ruling class. The
collapse of our democracy is in no small part due to the
ideological similarities between the Republican and
Democratic parties, fueled by cronyism and mutual corporate
ties.
Sadly, Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic Congress will rue
the day they took impeachment off the table. By disregarding
the wishes of The People and making no effort to impeach
Bush and Cheney, Speaker Pelosi will go down in history as
the Speaker who permitted the most corrupt Administration in
American history to perpetrate its crimes. She has secured
her legacy as the spineless leader of a spineless Congress
that defied the Constitution and sanctioned Bush and
Cheney’s lies. The 110th Congress and its Speaker have
become enablers, accomplices and accessories to the crimes.
The bottom line… Bush and Cheney have eighteen months left
to their term. During this time they are capable of many
more egregious crimes. Congress’s failure to initiate
articles of impeachment for Bush and Cheney’s criminal acts
is a breach of Congress’s Oath “to support and defend the
Constitution of the United States against all enemies,
foreign or domestic.” If Pelosi and the 110th Congress do
not uphold this Oath, they have secured their rightful
places alongside Bush and Cheney as enemies of the state.
One final note: Members of both the House and the Senate
have stated that impeachment is certain to fail. Let it be
known that if the current Legislative Branch doesn’t make an
honest attempt at impeachment, they have already failed.
But If they make an honest, heart-felt and diligent try,
even if they fail, at least they have done their job.
Linda Milazzo is a Los Angeles based writer, educator and
activist. Her writing has appeared in numerous domestic and
international newspapers, magazines and journals. Over the
past three decades, Linda has divided her time between the
entertainment industry, community development projects and
education.
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