I conducted research at the Bill Clinton Library this week for my project on spiritual advisers to presidents. In the documents, I found what I expected to find, namely that some of those spiritual advisers were decidedly liberal in their theology and politics, thereby giving “cover,” so to speak, for the policies Clinton put forward, including his agenda for the acceptance of homosexuality in our society as normal.
The research room staff was professional and nice to work with. The cafe is absolutely superb; wonderful atmosphere and truly great food. The museum is also professionally arranged and is set up in such a way that you can easily go from one exhibit to another with some continuity.
The political agenda, though, is of different spirit than what I’ve seen at other presidential libraries. Naturally, any presidential library is going to showcase what the supporters believe are the strengths of that particular president. What makes the Clinton Library unique is the way it attacks his political adversaries. This showed up especially in the exhibit about the impeachment. Search though you may, you will not find one word about anything he may have done to lead to that impeachment. No, it was all a witch hunt.
I took some pictures to illustrate. Note how they even emphasize some words with highlighting. I didn’t do that; they want to draw attention to certain phrases. In this “explanation,” it is the Republicans who have an ideological agenda (which Clinton, of course, never had) and who refused to compromise, causing government shutdowns. I have a different interpretation of that period, but I’ll not inject it right now. What I want you to see is how the controversy is framed here.
Then there’s this one:
Now we learn that the “New Right” is responsible for an increase in personal attacks. Nothing, however, is said about Clinton’s personal behavior that might have led to what his partisans consider “personal attacks.” Notice that most of those attacks were merely based on “rumors and accusations” without foundation. Republicans are charged with trying to undermine Clinton’s popular policies by pushing the “politics of personal destruction.”
That phrase even gets its own heading:
Visitors to the museum now find out that Clinton’s motives, morals, and patriotism were unfairly questioned. Excuse me? On the morals issue, I think there is some basis, is there not? By linking that with patriotism, though, it makes all the accusations appear ridiculous. Note the words highlighted in this one: “character assassination” and “new, aggressive tactics,” as if politics has always been of the highest integrity, but now the evil Republicans have changed all that.
The slant is so blatant, without any acknowledgement that there may have been some basis for investigations and possible impeachment, that it is historically unsound.
May I suggest a book that spells out the valid reasons for the impeachment proceedings? My book, Mission: Impeachable–The House Managers and the Historic Impeachment of President Clinton, while now out of print, is still available as a used book on Amazon. I interviewed all thirteen of the congressmen who argued for his impeachment, and you won’t find animosity in any of their stories. They felt they were simply doing their duty to remain faithful to the Constitution.
I also came across this interesting letter from Mother Teresa to Hillary Clinton. It is very nice and complimentary, primarily because that was her character. Yet they had a profound disagreement on abortion. Read these words, and when you get to the last line, I think you might be able to see something behind those words, if you know about this disagreement.
When she writes, “There is so much good you can do if you listen to God in the silence of your heart,” I think she is hoping God will reveal the truth to Hillary about the holocaust of innocent lives in the womb. Thus far, that plea has gone unheard. Listening to the Spirit’s promptings has not become part of her life.