Subject: A Letter to the President

This was written by a retired Army officer and distributed by E-Mail via the Naval Academy Alumni network.  It is unfortunate, but understandable, that the author decided to remain anonymous.

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Dear Mr.. President:

It's not about sex. If it were about sex, you would be long
gone. Just like a doctor, attorney or teacher who had sex with a
patient, client or student half his age, you would have violated the
ethics of your office and would be long gone. Just like the Sergeant
Major of the Army, Gene McKinney, who though found not guilty, was
forced to resign amid accusations of sexual abuse.

Remember the Air Force General you wouldn't nominate to be
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff because he freely admitted
to an affair almost 15 years before, while he and his wife were
separated? Unlike you, he was never accused of having a starry-eyed
office assistant my daughter's age perform oral sex on him while he was
on the phone and his wife and daughter were upstairs.

If it were about sex, you should be subjected to the same
horrible hearings that Clarence Thomas was subjected to because of the
accusations of Anita Hill. The only accusation then was that he
talked dirty to her; he didn't even leave semen stains on her dress.

No, it's not about sex. It's about character. It's about lying.
It'sabout arrogance. It's about abuse of power. It's about dodging
the draft and lying about it. When caught in a lie by letters you
wrote, you concocted a story that nobody believed. But we excused it
and looked away. It's about smoking dope, and lying about it. "I
didn't inhale," you said. Sure, and when I was 15 and my buddies and I
swiped a beer from an unwatched refrigerator, we drank from it,
but we didn't swallow. "I broke no laws of the United States," you
said. That's right, you smoked dope in England or Norway or Moscow;
where you were demonstrating against the U.S.A. You lied, but we
excused it and looked away. It's about you selling overnight
stays in the White House to any foreigner or other contributor with
untraceable cash. It's about Whitewater and Jim and Susan
McDougal and Arkansas, Gov. Jim Guy Tucker and Vincent Foster
and Jennifer Flowers and Paula Jones and Karen Willey and nearly
countless others. It's about stealing the records from Foster's
office while his body was still warm and putting them in your bedroom
and "not noticing them" for two years. It's about illegal political
contributions. It's about you and Al Gore soliciting contributions and
selling influence at Buddhist temples and in the same Oval Office where
Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt led their countries through the
dark days of wars that threatened the very existence of our nation. But 
we excused you and looked away.

It's about hiding evidence from Ken Starr, refusing to testify,
filing legal motions, coaching witnesses, obstructing justice and
delaying Judge Starr's inquiry for months and years, and then
complaining that it has gone on too long. The polls agreed. Thank
goodness that Judge Starr didn't read the polls, play politics or
excuse you and look away. He held on to the evidence like a
tenacious bulldog. Your supporters say that you've confessed
your wrong doings and asked for our forgiveness. Listen, what
you said on TV the night you testified to the grand jury was not a
confession. Confession in the face of overwhelming evidence is
not a confession at all. Not that it would make a lot of difference.
A murderer who contritely confesses his crime is still a murderer.
When your "confession" didn't sell, even to your friends, you
became more forthcoming. Maybe someday you'll confess more,
but probably not. You've established such pattern of lying that we
can't believe you anymore. Neither can your cabinet, the
Congress or any of the leaders of the nations of the world.

When a leader's actions defame and emasculate our country as
profoundly as yours have, it no longer a personal matter, as you
claim. It's no longer a matter among you, your family and your God. By the
way, I don't believe for a minute that Hillary was unaware of your
sexual misadventures, abuses of power and pattern of lying. She has
been a party to your wrong doings since Whitewater and Jennifer
Flowers just as surely as she lied about the Rose law firm's billings
and hid the Vincent Foster evidence in your bedroom for two years.
Why?  So she could share in the raw power that your office carries.
The two of you probably lied to Chelsea, but that is a matter among
you, your family and your God.

Remember the sign over James Carvill's desk during the l992
campaign? It said, "It's the economy, stupid!  Place this sign over
your desk: "It's about character, stupid!"

No, it's not about sex, Mr. President. If it were, you would be
long gone. It's about character; but we have to live with your filth,
lies and arrogance for a while longer. Your lies, amorality and lack
of character have been as pervasive as they have been despicable,
so we have no reason to believe that you will quietly resign and
go away. You'll count on half truths and spin doctors to see you
through, the country be damned. It has always worked before. We
excused you and looked the other way. No more, we've had enough. You
betrayed us enough. You have made every elected official,
minister, teacher, diplomat, parent and grandparent in the country
apologize for you and explain away your actions. Now go away, and let
us show them that our country was not without morals. It was just
that you were. Let us show them that America was not the problem.
William Jefferson Clinton was.

Go away, Mr. President.  Leave us alone.  And when you leave,
know that your legacy to the United States of America will be a
stain on the Office of the President that is as filthy as the stain on
Monica's dress. It will take a lot of scrubbing to make it clean
again.

From a Retired Army Officer, who served as public
affairs officer at Fort Rucker from 1989 to 1991 and now lives in
Ozark, Alabama.