VARIOUS: U.S. PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON READS CHRISTMAS STORY TO CHILDREN IN WHITE HOUSE DAYS AFTER BEING IMPEACHED

Record ID: 859351

  • Title: VARIOUS: U.S. PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON READS CHRISTMAS STORY TO CHILDREN IN WHITE HOUSE DAYS AFTER BEING IMPEACHED
  • Date: 23rd December 1998
  • Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (DECEMBER 22, 1998) (REUTERS) SCU SOUNDBITE (English) MARSHALL WITTMANN SAYING: "All the world would be different in Washington had we not heard about Monica Lewinsky in January of 1998."
  • Embargoed: 7th January 1999 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES/BAGHDAD, IRAQ/JERUSALEM
  • City:
  • Country: Usa Jerusalem Jerusalem Iraq
  • Topics: General,Politics,People
  • Reuters ID: LVAXCDO8MQJFPEXB7GJZP8ECUFA
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: President Clinton looked full of holiday spirit on Tuesday afternoon (December 22) as he read a Christmas story to a group of visiting school children.It was hard to tell that he had, just three days earlier, become the second president to ever be impeached.
    The House of Representatives voted two articles of impeachment against the President, charging him with lying under oath and obstructing justice in the Monica Lewinsky affair.
    The case now goes to the Senate for a possible trial.The 100 Senators will act as jurors.One Republican Senator, Craig Thomas, says he thinks the President's "ability to lead has been questioned."
    The only other impeached president was Andrew Johnson, back in 1868.He had not been elected, however, but had taken over the office when President Lincoln was assassinated.He escaped conviction in the Senate by just one vote.
    The speculation by many in Washington is that President Clinton is not in danger of being convicted by today's Senate.
    However, the question now being asked is, "Can he govern effectively?" Opinions among the experts and American citizens seem as divided as those on Capitol Hill, where the President was impeached largely by Republicans in mostly party-line votes.Scholar Stephen Hesssays that in "the seventh and eighth year of a presidency, the office loses power anyway."
    However, scholar Marshall Wittmann is not so forgiving.
    He says the president's inability to deal with the Republicans in the government "puts into doubt whether the President will be able to achieve the legacy he's been looking for."
    On the street, some say the President is doing a "fantastic job", while others think he has disgraced the country and "should resign." One woman suggests that internationally, "people will have trouble taking him or the United States as seriously."
    The fact that the United States launched an attack on Iraq on the eve of the President's impeachment has raised doubts about Mr.Clinton's motives.Still, it is widely believed that the President has his best chance for political success if he concentrates on his foreign policy efforts, like the Middle East peace process.
    Stephen Hess says that in "international affairs, he's not neccessarily going to lose a great deal of power." While Marshall Wittmann does admit "foreign leaders will look to him...", Wittmann also says "foreign leaders are questioning whether hestill has the kind of command that he did prior to his impeachment." Wittmann also notes that "All the world would be different in Washington had we not heard about Monica Lewinsky in January of 1998.
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