Joseph Lieberman

September 24, 1998
For some time I have been looking for the "Howard Baker" in the Clinton affairs. Senator Howard Baker, you may remember, was the first prominent Republican to speak out against President Nixon during Watergate. Now Senator Joseph Lieberman has filled that role.

When the Democratic Senator from Connecticut delivered a dramatic 20-minute speech on the Senate floor, President Clinton's problems intensified. He and other Democratic Senators dealt with the moral issues surrounding the president. Senator Leiberman said, "We can safely assume that it will be that much more difficult to convince our sons and daughters of the importance of telling the truth when the most powerful man in the nation evades it."

He went on to say that President Clinton's behavior "not only contradicted the values he has publicly embraced over the last six years, it has, I fear, compromised his moral authority at a time when Americans of every political persuasion agree that the decline of the family is one of the most pressing problems we are facing."

Such strong words are especially surprising considering how far back these two men go. In 1970, Bill Clinton, then a Yale Law School student, worked as a volunteer in Lieberman's campaign for the Connecticut State Senate. Twenty-two years later, as the presidential primaries began, Senator Lieberman became the first lawmaker from the North to endorse him for the presidency.

Nevertheless, Senator Leiberman had to draw the line. He has been speaking out for years on issues of morality with such people at Bill Bennett. He finally broke the long-standing Democratic reluctance to speak out and was joined by Senator Bob Kerry and Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

I say three cheers for speaking out and doing what is right rather than what would be politically expedient.

I'm Kerby Anderson of Probe Ministries, and that's my opinion.

© 1998 Probe Ministries International