President Clinton was under investigation for 3/4 of his presidency.
It started as an investigation into some still tenuous connection to a decades-old failed Arkansas land deal, morphed into investigations of the runnings of the travel office and post office, made absolutely and completely unfounded insane insinuations against him regarding the suicide of a long-time friend, and--I only learned this part yesterday--even investigated his cat. (Not joking!)
When all of those allegations were found to be baseless, he was ultimately impeached by the Republican held House for arguably the most frivolous bases for impeachment ever: his denial of a consensual affair made during the course of a politically charged lawsuit against him.
Ultimately, those flimsy charges failed to carry even a simple majority of the Republican-held Senate, who refused to remove him from office.
And when that was finally all said and done, this is what President Clinton said about the entire ordeal.
"Now that the senate has fulfilled its constitutional responsibility, bringing this process to a conclusion, I want to say again how profoundly sorry I am for what I said and did to trigger these events and the great burden they have imposed on Congress and on the American people. I am also humbled and very grateful for the support and prayers I have received from millions of Americans over this past year. Now I ask all Americans, and I hope all Americans, both in Washington and throughout the land, will rededicate ourselves to serving our nation and building our future together. This can be and must be a time of reconciliation and renewal for America. Thank you very much....I believe any person who asks for forgiveness has to be prepared to give it."
Even though the investigation had been a ridiculous waste of time and money, there was no gloating. No self-pity. No whining. No demeaning of his political opponents. No cries of "Witch hunt!" or "Game over!"
Just a simple, quiet, introspective and conciliatory statement from the President and a request for unity and reconciliation amongst all Americans.
And throughout all those years of being under scrutiny for things that did not constitute the least bit of legal malfeasance, the President remained calm, allowed the investigations to continue unobstructed, and carried out the daily business of the country to great success.
That was 20 years ago.
It might as well have been 20 centuries ago.
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