Does being president mean that you never have to say you are sorry, even when you admit to a big lie that:
*Caused your loyal supporters to incur humiliation and huge legal bills in their defense of you. *Caused your cabinet members to stand in front of the White House and defend your integrity while they put their own reputations at risk. *Caused an eight month extension of a federal investigation with an average cost of around $80,000 per month. *Will likely cause more and more bright young people to avoid politics and public service.
Does being president mean that you never have to say you are sorry to:
*The parents of an intern who trusted their young daughter to your care to be mentored by you in a public, not private, circumstance in the very public Oval Office? *And to all parents for the discomforts they have experienced in trying to find ways to to explain your conduct to their own young children?
Does being president mean that you never have to say you are sorry to the people who expected so much of you in matters of environmental improvement, quality education, secure social security, crime prevention, tax sanity, and in the personal moral leadership necessary to keep dictators and terrorists from thumbing their noses at America?
Does being president mean that you never have to say you are sorry to the American people who must foot the ethical and financial costs of your canards? Does admitting to your lie mean that you should not, like Newt Gingrich, pay for the costs of the federal investigation during the time that it was extended by your prevarication?
We heard your speech, Mr. President. We heard you blame others for your own "inappropriate" and disgusting actions. We did not hear you say you were sorry.
Gordon K. Durnil
Author of: IS AMERICA BEYOND REFORM?, Sligo Press www.sligopress.com and THE MAKING OF A CONSERVATIVE ENVIRONMENTALIST, Indiana University Press
