Aftermath : The Clinton Impeachment and the Presidency in the Age of Political Spectacle

by Kaplan, Leonard V.

• ISBN13: 9780814747421
• ISBN10: 0814747426
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-08-01
• Publisher: New York University Press

Summary

With the specter of prosecution after his term is over and the possibility of disbarment in Arkansas hanging over President Clinton, the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal and the events that have followed it show no sign of abating. The question has become what to do, and how to think, about those eight months. Did the President lie or was it plausible that he had truthfully testified to no sexual relationship? Was the job search for Monica just help for a friend or a sinister means of obtaining silence? Even if all the charges were true, did impeachment follow or was censure enough? And what are the lasting repercussions on the office of the Presidency? Aftermath: The Clinton Impeachment and the Presidency in the Age of Political Spectacle takes a multi-disciplinary approach to analyze the Clinton impeachment from political perspectives across the spectrum. The authors attempt to tease out the meanings of the scandal from the vantage point of law, religion, public opinion, and politics, both public and personal. Further, the impeachment itself is situated broadly within the contemporary American liberal state and mined for the contradictory possibilities for reconciliation it reveals in our culture. Contributors: David T. Canon, John Cooper, Drucilla Cornell, Jean Bethke Elshtain, Robert W. Gordon, Lawrence Joseph, Leonard V. Kaplan, David Kennedy, Kenneth R. Mayer, Beverly I. Moran, Father Richard John Neuhaus, David Novak, Linda Denise Oakley, Elizabeth Rapaport, Lawrence Rosen, Eric Rothstein, Aviam Soifer, Lawrence M. Solan, Cass R. Sunstein, Stephen Toulmin, Leon Trakman, Frank Tuerkheimer, Mark V. Tushnet, Andrew D. Weiner, Robin L. West.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction	1	(10)
Beverly I. Moran
PART I Politics
A Case Study in Group Polarization (with Warnings for the Future)	11	(11)
Cass R. Sunstein
Sex and Politics at the Close of the Twentieth Century: A Feminist Looks Back at the Clinton Impeachment and the Thomas Confirmation Hearings	22	(12)
Elizabeth Rapaport
Public, Private, and the Gender Division of Emotional Labor	34	(13)
Jean Bethke Elshtain
Everything You Thought You Knew about Impeachment Is Wrong	47	(16)
David T. Canon
Kenneth R. Mayer
Pierre Elliot Trudeau: A Canadian Scandal?	63	(20)
Leon E. Trakman
PART II Law
Comparing the Independent Counsel to Other Prosecutors: Privilege and Other Issues	83	(14)
Frank Tuerkheimer
Legalizing Outrage	97	(16)
Robert W. Gordon
The Gold Standard and Guilt-Edged Insecurities: The Impeachment Crucible as Tragic Farce	113	(16)
Aviam Soifer
Sex, Harm, and Impeachment	129	(21)
Robin West
Impeachment: A (Civil) Religious Perspective	150	(12)
John Milton Cooper, Jr.
The Constitutional Politics of the Clinton Impeachment	162	(17)
Mark V. Tushnet
PART III Shaping Public Opinion
Ontology in the Clinton Era	179	(7)
Andrew D. Weiner
All We Had to Do Was Rationalize the Sex	186	(13)
Linda Denise Oakley
Perjury and Impeachment: The Rule of Law or the Rule of Lawyers?	199	(13)
Lawrence M. Solan
Impeachment and Enchanting Arts	212	(14)
Eric Rothstein
A Year after the Acquittal in the Impeachment Trial	226	(11)
Lawrence Joseph
PART IV Religion
An Un-Christian Pursuit	237	(6)
Stephen Toulmin
Abuse of Power as a Cultural Construct	243	(10)
Lawrence Rosen
Bill Clinton and the American Character	253	(14)
Richard John Neuhaus
The Clinton Scandal: Law and Morals	267	(12)
David Novak
PART V The Political is Personal
The Spectacle and the Libertine	279	(18)
David Kennedy
The Political is Personal	297	(15)
Beverly I. Moran
Dropped Drawers: A Viewpoint	312	(9)
Drucilla Cornell
Conclusion: The Penultimate: The Meaning of Impeachment and Liberal Governance	321	(32)
Leonard V. Kaplan
Contributors	353	(6)
Index	359