By Mary Mostert, Analyst, Original Sources
If it weren't such a sad example of the spiritual level of Washington, DC and the media it would be comical. On the one hand the talking heads are trying to figure out what Clinton could say to the public to head off its growing anger since his August 17th non-apology attack on Kenneth Starr. Sen. Max Baucus, responding to the "problem" of the growing national anger observed on the Capitol Gang of the Clinton team, "They're trying to figure out the right way to apologize.
In recent days the discussion has been: Did he, or did he not apologize? And, if he apologized, then why isn't it working? Why would Sen. Lieberman make a speech like that?
In an effort to somehow take the heat off Bill Clinton, the media was apparently provided some information about a past indiscretion of Indiana Congressman and key Committee Chairman Dan Burton. (Those 900 FBI files are probably full of juicy stuff like that.) What better way to take the heat off the President than to whip up anger and disgust about an enemy? After all, on nationwide television Clinton strategist James Carville warned this would happen. "This is WAR!" Carville exclaimed some months ago.
Unfortunately for those hot on the trail of the story, who clearly had been given the name of the woman involved back in the 1980s and who had been camping on her lawn waiting to reveal her identity, Dan Burton called their bluff. Before the article was published he stepped forward and issued a statementin which he confessed to the affair, which had occured during one of the three times in his 38 year marriage that he and his wife were separated.
He also confessed that a child had been born from the affair and that, "With my wife's knowledge, I have fulfilled my responsibilities as the father. In an effort to protect the privacy of those involved, it was decided years ago among all parties that this matter would remain private."
However, the White House spin doctors desire to destroy Congressman Dan Burton, in hopes of taking the heat off Bill Clinton. They have made it impossible for Dan Burton to protect the child, the woman and her family. A media that has bent over backwards to shield Chelsea Clinton was camping on the front lawn of another child to create as much pain as possible - in hopes that would somehow help Clinton.
CNN was in Indiana this week-end hoping to find an irate electorate willing to condemn Dan Burton. Filming in a popular breakfast spot, it was clear Burton constituents were very forgiving. As one young man said, as he informed the reporter his vote for Dan Burton would not change, "He's a man. None of us are perfect."
By now they are probably pouring over these reports in the basement of the White House trying to figure out why the plot to destroy Dan Burton didn't succeed - and it won't succeed. In fact, the more people think about, the more they will admire Dan Burton who is a scrappy character not willing to back off even when clearly and publicly threatened with political blackmail by the Clinton White House. Obviously this has worked for Clinton before. How come it didn't work with Dan Burton?
And, how come people seem to be even MORE determined to impeach Clinton or force him to resign and they shrug their shoulders over Dan Burton's love child?
Let's look at the difference in what these stories are and how differently the two men behaved after their misbehavior.
First, we now know that a pregnancy resulted from the Burton affair. But, in spite of the obvious embarrassment and possible political fallout if the affair were made public, there was no abortion.
Dan Burton, it appears, did not know that the woman, who left the State in 1982, had given birth, much less that it was his child. After five years, The Indianapolis Star News said "the woman separated from the man who had been presumed to be the father" (apparently not a husband) and she called Dan Burton. As Dan Burton's brother Woody noted, "Dan voluntarily took a blood test. He didn't go to court. He offered and has ever since helped support the child."
In spite of what occurred, Dan Burton took responsibility for his child, and worked to save his marriage. That says a lot for both Dan Burton and his wife.
Note also that all involved, including the woman and her husband, Dan Burton and his wife were confronted with the threat of political blackmail to force him to stop his determined efforts to get to the bottom of the campaign finance scandal. It is Dan Burton who issued the subpoenas and who threatened Janet Reno with contempt of Congress if she did not appoint an independent counsel to investigate the matter.
All of them chose to resist political blackmail. That shows that all of them have a lot of courage and that Dan Burton is not going to back away from his investigation - which shows every sign of being a whole lot worse problem for the nation than Clinton's sexual perversion in the Oval Office. That is embarrassing to the entire nation. If the campaign finance scandal turns out to have been giving US missile technology to China in exchange for campaign funds from the Chinese military - as has been suggested - the articles of impeachment for Bill Clinton ought to include high treason.
Dan Burton not only told his wife, but apologized many years ago. In his statement, he also apologized to his constituents. He did not lie to them, get everyone around him to lie to them, and blame everything on someone else - which is what Clinton did. He did the honorable thing, when no one knew and when no one could ever have proved it - had he not volunteered himself to take tests than established the child's paternity.
Most Americans have been saying that they really "didn't want to hear about" Clinton's sexual escapades. In a nation in which two thirds of ALL pregnancies end either in abortion or in the birth of a baby to an unwed mother, clearly the majority of this nation is not living the moral code as outlined in the Bible, Koran or the Wisdom of Confucius or any other major religious document I have read. Whoever in the White House thought that the people of Indiana would rise up in arms over Dan Burton's affair, after twice electing a president that they knew had a major problem with adultery, suggests they are losing their grip.
If the spin-doctors want to know what kind of an apology would have "worked," they should study Dan Burton's statement and the facts of his case. Dan Burton said, "I have apologized to my wife and family, whom I love. I apologize to my constituents. We live in a society that rightfully depends upon people taking responsibility for their actions. I have done so in this matter." He not only was clearly sorry for what he had done, he had apologized to those he harmed many years before the situation became known.
Dan Burton didn't look for excuses (and he clearly had a pretty good one if the woman herself didn't know who the father really was). He didn't put all the blame on the woman. He didn't make a bad situation worse by lying to everyone in sight and he didn't use his position to blackmail other people. His sincerity is proved by the fact that he took responsibility, including financial responsibility, WHEN NO ONE KNEW ABOUT IT.
In Clinton's case, he has lied about it, denied it, tried to ruin the people who told the truth - like Paula Jones and Kathleen Willey - and openly blackmailed any who have stood up to him. He has spent huge sums of money trying to destroy Independent Counsel Ken Starr and has compromised the reputations of his friends who believed him when he denied "having sex with that woman."
Where, in his behavior, is there any smidgen of indication that Bill Clinton is sorry for his sins? He has disrupted the lives of every American. Because he has lied to the entire nation, his behavior is not a private matter. And, we have waited in vain for any sign of contrition. Clinton's arrogance is simply breath-taking.
This is not what people do when they are sorry for the sins they commit. And, the ancient prophets told us over and over, sorrow for sin is the very first step.
Unbridled vindictiveness, as practiced by William Jefferson Clinton, while mouthing carefully worded denials of any LEGAL wrong-doing is not going to be mistaken for an apology by normal people. Sen. Baucus, if you want to try to help the guys in the White House figure out what kind of apology will work, suggest to them that an apology BEGINS with sincere sorrow for the SIN, not anger at being caught. It then proceeds to repentence, i.e., vowing to never do it again. The third step is restitution - such as Dan Burton taking financial responsibility for his love-child. A good place the president could start in making restitution would be to repay the American people for the cost of the Ken Starr investigation which has forced him to cautiously admit his lying.
After he has done all that, an apology would be in order, and probably would be accepted by most people.
To comment: mmostert@originalsources.com