Bill Clinton's impeachment

The political hurdles to impeachment are more formidable than the procedural ones. With mid-term congressional elections due on Nov. 3, it was always likely that the Republicans would use their majority in the House to keep as much pressure on Clinton -- and by implication the Democrats -- as possible. How much political mileage there will be in the Lewinsky affair post-Nov. 3 is anyone's guess. If the House vote later this week divides on party lines, there is a danger that an impeachment inquiry will begin to look like a political scalp hunt. That may rebound on the Republicans in the 2000 presidential campaign.

Perhaps it is for this reason that support is already building for a circuit-breaker that would see the Congress censure Clinton but not impeach him. That would wrap this whole tawdry business up much quicker than impeachment proceedings, limit the damage to the office of the presidency and restore some perspective on misconduct which, while reprehensible, on any objective test bears no comparison to president Richard Nixon's behavior in the Watergate affair.

-- The Sydney Morning Herald