LIMBAUGH COMMENTARY: THE CHARACTER IN THE WHITE HOUSE

During the impeachment ordeal, the Clinton chorus sang in harmony that the president's private life is irrelevant to his public life and is therefore nothing that should concern the body politic. This is just one of many societally destructive lies promulgated by this New Age administration and its minions.

Christian apologist, Dr. Ravi Zacharias, has a different take: "We know that the premise of privatization is flawed because who we are in public is determined by what we have learned and cherished in private. ... But it is a mindless philosophy that assumes that one's private beliefs have nothing to do with public office. Does it make sense to entrust those who are immoral in private with the power to determine the nation's moral issues and, indeed, its destiny? One of the most dangerous and terrifying trends in America today is the disregard for character as a central necessity in a leader's credentials. The duplicitous soul of a leader can only make a nation more sophisticated in evil."

The administration preaches political spin and Zacharias the truth. Bill Clinton's private character (SET ITAL) is (END ITAL) his public character, which has spelled disastrous consequences for this nation. His immoral being is reflected in virtually every public action he takes. In this short space, let's just look at a few recent examples:

-- Senator Hatch says that he has been requesting Clinton's input for the last two years on various gun-control measures to no avail. Only after the Littleton massacre did Clinton begin to voice his views. And not until the day after the Senate vote on the measure last week did Clinton and Janet Reno speak up on the proposed laws and then only to criticize and demagogue the issue. According to Hatch, the administration is more interested in making this a political issue than it is in gun control itself.

-- Rep. Christopher Cox warns that the Chinese espionage scandal is "of such gravity that it needs the top attention of policy makers in both the legislative and executive branches." The espionage continues even to this day, says Cox, yet it is not being stopped. Why? According to Cox, "It's a policy problem at the top levels of government." The crux of the matter is that Clinton is more concerned about how the revelations will damage his reputation than with solving the problem and stopping the leaks.

-- Cox allows that he has no doubts that most of the leaks that have been coming out almost daily about the scandal have originated at the White House. The White House is gradually leaking in order to control the spin of the stories and ultimately to anesthetize the public (just as occurred with Monicagate) into numbness by the time the Cox Report is finally released. Cox says that Clinton is treating "national security information as if it's a political football."

-- From the beginning of the air strikes in Serbia, the top NATO brass have been clamoring for the United States to send Apache helicopters to immobilize Serbian ground forces in Kosovo. From the beginning, Clinton has been toying with the generals. He doesn't want to introduce Apaches for the same reason he wants to avoid ground troops and bomb from three miles high: He is afraid of the political fallout (to himself and his self-serving military campaign) that would result from U.S. casualties.

General Clark is getting a first-hand taste of Clinton's duplicity. As noted by The New York Times, it took weeks for Washington to agree to Clark's request to deploy the Apaches. Then it took weeks more to lug the men and supplies for the helicopters and the Army units that accompanied them to Albania. Then, unbelievably, Clinton only agreed to finally send the Apaches on the condition that they not be used in combat without his formal approval. Frustrated NATO officials have said, "There was no concept of using the Apaches just as a feint."

A moral statesman would not exploit a student massacre for political gain, put his personal interests ahead of the nation's security or lie to the top general in charge of a war he started in furtherance of his public legacy.

Character matters. One's private character (SET ITAL) is (END ITAL) one's public character. To suggest that the two can be severed is but another deception by those with a vested interest in perpetuating this big lie. As Emerson aptly noted, "A character is like an acrostic or Alexandrine stanza -- read it forward, backward or across, it still spells the same thing."