| January 21, 1999 THE ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE PRESIDENT'S CONVERSATION WITH DICK MORRIS In a previous posting, I discussed in detail the President Clinton's January 21, 1998 discussion with Dick Morris concerning the Lewinsky scandal. To recap, Dick took a poll and informed the President that the American people would not forgive perjury. Based upon that poll, the President then engaged in months of denial until the dress was recovered from Monica. Based upon that poll, to this day the President refuses to admit that he lied at the Paula Jones deposition. To celebrate the anniversary of that conversation, I thought I would show how successful the President was in changing public opinion. As you read the following paragraphs, I would like you to keep in mind the phrase "defining deviancy down," coined by Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan. The phrase refers to the phenomena of how unacceptable conduct becomes acceptable through desensitivization and repetition. The prototypical example is the birth of children out of wedlock. Up until the 1960s, it was "deviant" for an unmarried woman to give birth and unmarried women who became pregant suffered a severe social stigma. However, over time, as out of wedlock births dramatically increased for reasons that we will not go into here, we have defined deviancy down to the point that a court recently held that an unmarried high school mom could not be disqualified for consideration as a National Merit Scholar, notwithstanding that moral character was an important element to be considered. On January 26, 1998, the first comprehensive polls regarding the scandal were released. Surprisingly to many commentators, the polls showed absolutely no drop in the President's job approval rating, which was around 60%. (The President's job approval has remained unaffected by the scandal.) In addition, only 36% of those polled said that the President should resign if he had an affair with Monica (60% suspected that he had an affair). However, as Dick Morris told the President, there was one onimous sign -- 63% said that the President should resign if he lied under oath, 55% said that the President should be impeached if he lied under oath and refused to resign, and 59% said that the President should be impeached if he asked Monica to lie. Fast forward to August 16, 1998, one day before Clinton's grand jury deposition. The President retained a 60+ job approval rating. The percentage who believed that the Prez had an affair increased to over 70% and the percentage who believed that he lied about it was approximately 65%. However, the percentage who believed that he should be impeached if he lied under oath dropped from 55% to approximately 30% and the percentage who believed that he should be impeached if he asked Monica to lie dropped from 59% to approximately 40%. The President's delaying tactics worked perfectly. However, there was one tiny obstacle -- Clinton's strange mixture of hubris and political instinct. Clinton simply did not want to admit to perjury and obstruction of justice. For one reason, the polls might change back. Second, Ken Starr was impervious to polls and might just indict him. And third, concerned about his "legacy," he did not want to be thought of as a perjurer. Therefore, he thought up the bright idea of admitting to an "inappropriate intimate relationship," but insisting that he did not lie at the deposition and did not obstruct justice. In order to do so, however, he had to lie before the grand jury. This presented another problem for the President. On August 14, 1998, a poll was released showing that 60% of Americans believed that he should be impeached if lied before the grand jury. Fast forward to January, 1999. On January 12, 1999, a poll was released showing that approximately 80% of Americans believe that the Prez committed perjury before the grand jury and 53% believe he obstructed justice. However, the percentage that believe that he should be impeached if he committed perjury before the grand jury dropped from 60% to 40%. This poll means that he will not be removed from office. What does this all mean? A mere one year ago today, If I were to tell you that a President of the United States could be serviced by an intern, commit perjury, suborn perjury, obstruct justice, lie and wag his finger at the American people, and then committ perjury before a grand jury, but would have a job approval rating in the mid-60s and over 60% of the American people would not want him removed from office even if all those allegations were true, you would not believe me. It would be absurd, ridiculous. But it is now true. And it is true because William Jefferson Clinton made the conscious and intentional decision to lower our expectations of how a President should act in office. At every step of this process, the President made the conscious and intentional decision to step over another line that nobody every imagined a President would ever conceive of stepping over. And every time he stepped over another line, the American people blinked. In the very near future, in order to appease this popular President and numbed American populace, the Senate of the United States will be announcing that the Constitution requires that the President be held to a lower standard than federal judges and that a President can commit felonies and be immune from removal from office, contrary to all House and Senate impeachment precedents. Deviancy has been defined down. Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you for listening. DS |