September 27, 1998

Whitewater, Watergate Scandals Alike In Many Ways

The similarities between Whitewater and Watergate are uncanny -- except that the presidential and congressional roles are reversed.

Back in 1974, Richard Nixon attempted to cover up a “two-bit burglary” of the Democrat National Committee headquarters. This year, Bill Clinton attempted to cover up adultery in the Oval Office. Neither man succeeded in keeping their dark secrets and so had to face the ultimate price -- impeachment and trial.

Nixon ducked, by resigning before his partisan tormentors could hand up an impeachment recommendation to the full House. By so doing, he survived politically to reclaim his reputation. Clinton says he “never” will resign and calls on his friends to save him by whooping up a popularity referendum. Now we will test the axiom that “History is Prologue.”

Nixon was reelected to his second term in 1972 by the largest landslide in the nation’s history up to that time -- 520 electoral votes versus George McGovern’s 17. The Watergate break-in occurred in that campaign, but the voters didn’t care. He was ending the Vietnam War, made peace with Communist China, and went to the Soviet Union to open dialogue in the “cold war.” The Dow-Jones industrial stock average climbed to a record 1,000 points.

The Gallup poll in October reported that barely half the voters had heard of Watergate. Of those who had, four out of every five did not see it as a reason to vote Democratic.

Unfortunately for Nixon then -- as for Clinton now -- Congress was controlled by the opposite political party. Congressional Democrats pursued President Nixon doggedly.

Televised hearings in the House and Senate dragged on for more than a year after the election. Steady drips of alleged “corruption” began to sway public opinion. The Washington Post exhausted its store of dark-purple adjectives demonizing Nixon.

Finally, the House prosecution team called up its last witness. He was a White House electrician who mentioned offhandedly that there were voice-tapes of Oval Office conversations. Bingo! A “smoking gun” was discovered. The tapes recorded Nixon and his aides discussing ways to cover up the Watergate fiasco. Nixon had no prior knowledge of the break-in by zealous campaign operatives, and denounced it in salty epithets when told of it. Nevertheless, Nixon’s enemies had their daggers unsheathed, and the public had been persuaded by the media that the country was in crisis.

Sen. Howard Baker, a prominent Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee turned against the president. “What did he know and when did he know it?”

John Doar, chief prosecutor for the House Judiciary Committee, quickly drew up 29 possible articles of impeachment. Three were adopted by the committee:

1. Obstruction of justice -- by engaging in a cover-up about the Watergate affair. The approval vote of 27 included all Democrats plus six Republicans. Eleven Republicans voted nay.
   
2. Abuse of powers -- by failing to take care that laws had been faithfully executed, obtaining a confidential FBI file, and “endeavoring” to misuse the IRS and CIA to harass his enemies even though he had not done so. Thus, he had repeatedly engaged in conduct violating the constitutional rights of government employees. Approved by vote of 28-10.
   
3. Seeking to impede the impeachment process-- by refusing to honor eight subpoenas for 147 tapes on the basis of executive privilege. Approved by vote of 21-17.

Ron Ziegler, Nixon’s press secretary, denounced Doar as a “partisan ideologue who had proceeded in a partisan, duplicitous, way” and made a “total shambles of what should have been a fair proceeding.”

Sound familiar?

In all, 17 White House aides or administration officials were sentenced to prison terms. Three others, in addition to Nixon, resigned. When Vice-president Gerald Ford became president he pardoned Nixon, thus saving him from prison.

The Watergate hearings have come to be recognized by most historians as egregious partisan politics aided and abetted by liberal media. A definitive analysis to this effect has been compiled by Stephen Ambrose in his three-volume history of “Nixon Ruin and Recovery.” The New York Times and Time Magazine praise the books.

Now, Clinton tries a Nixonian defense to explain an obvious perjury regarding his sexual conduct with three women of record. He has been trapped by DNA evidence on a blue dress. He is alleged to have misused the FBI to obtain 900 confidential files, obstructed justice by concealing subpoenaed documents in the White House living quarters, and violated the constitutional rights of government travel office employees.

The public and the media seem to overlook the fact that Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr has obtained 14 convictions so far in the Whitewater scandal -- one of them a sitting governor of Arkansas. Starr indicates more indictments are likely.

Clinton Press Secretary Mike McCurry this week accused congressional Republicans of conducting a “jihad” holy war against the president.

It does appear there is Republican partisanship in the present congressional handling of possible impeachment proceedings. Pay-back is a hallowed political prerogative.

So, what else is new?

By Lindsey Williams, columnist for Sun Coast Media Group newspapers