Andrew Cohen's Washington
| Date | 01 September 1998 |
| Published date | 01 September 1998 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070209805300309 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Andrew
Cohen's
Washington
LAST
DECEMBER,
BILL
CLINTON
INVITED
THE
NATIONAL
PRESS
CORPS
to
a
year-end
meditation
on
his
presidency.
Over
the
course
of
93
min-
utes
-the
longest
presidential
news
conference
in
recent
memory
-
Clinton
answered
all
of
the
usual
questions
with
his
usual
artfulness.
Still,
at
the
end
of
the
day,
the
only
real
news
was
his
announcement
that
he
had
found
a
name
for
his
new
dog.
That
Clinton
had
little
to
say
wasn't
surprising.
Nineteen-ninety-
seven
was
a
year
of
inertia
and
frustration
for
him,
and
it
was
not
uncharacteristic
of
most
of
his
administration.
While
it
was
fashion-
able
to
call
Clinton
a
lame
duck
after
his
re-election
in
1996,
the
truth
is
that
by
then
he
was
already
ineffective.
Indeed,
long
before
the
world
learned
of
Monica
Lewinsky
and
of
the
crippling
allegations
of
sexual
impropriety
and
criminality,
Clinton
had
already
become
a
dimin-
ished
president
in
a
diminished
presidency
-
a
reality
unlikely to
change
in
his
remaining
two
years
in
office.
In
1997,
Clinton
was
thwarted
on
virtually
every
major
policy
he
proposed
at
home
and
abroad.
The
treaty on
global
warming
-
which
the
United
States
signed
in Kyoto,
Japan,
and
which
Clinton
calls
a
hallmark
of
his
presidency
-
was
declared
'dead
on
arrival' in
the
Sen-
ate,
which
must
ratify
it.
The
treaty
on
landmines
was
greeted
a
little
more
favourably
in
the
Senate
but
Clinton,
well
aware
of
its
probable
fate,
refused
to
sign
it.
Even
more
humiliating
was
the
refusal
of
the
House
of
Representatives
to
renew
his
request
for
'fast-track'
authority
Andrew
Cohen
is
Washington
correspondent
for
the
Toronto
Globe
and
Mail.
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Summer
1998
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