Cord Byrd: “we appear to be only days away from receiving the Independent Counsel's report on President Clinton. The pressure on…”

“we appear to be only days away from receiving the Independent Counsel's report on President Clinton. The pressure on Congress is escalating. Talk of impeachment is in the air along with suggestions of resolutions of reprimand and censure. Some have even suggested that we ought to get on with impeachment and ``get this thing behind us.'' There had to come a time, sooner or later, when the boil would be lanced. The problem is, that with the lancing, a hemorrhaging may be only one of those continuing symptoms of a greater lancing--perhaps even an amputation--that still lurks in the shadows up ahead. There is no question but that the President, himself, has sown the wind, and he is reaping the whirlwind. His televised speech of August 17 heaped hot coals upon himself, coals causing wounds which continue to inflame and burn ever more deeply. Coming, as the speech did, so soon after the President's appearance before the Grand Jury, his words were ill-timed, ill-formed, and ill-advised. Perhaps if he had only delayed his televised speech for 24 hours, he may have, upon reflection, avoided some self-inflicted wounds that have since festered and continue to fester. The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.…”