Punishment is a slap on the wrist

It has been two years since the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, but the humor of the situation has not escaped the repertoire of many late night talk show hosts. \nIn the last few months of his term, former President Bill Clinton was anything but a lame duck. Clinton tried to play a role in the Middle East peace process and even went on a farewell tour across the country. \nBut a few days before he left his esteemed post, he managed to wriggle his way out of more public scrutiny over his inability to play by the rules.\nClinton worked out a deal with prosecutors that is the basic slap on the wrist many Americans expected he would receive at the beginning of the whole ordeal. In order to avoid an indictment, Clinton drafted a statement saying that he did lie under oath about his relations with Monica Lewinsky. Clinton will also lose his law license as a result of the deal.\nCombined with the months of public embarrassment, this punishment might be enough. The man did lead the nation to one of the most economically successful periods in American history. He was a whiz with international relations and maintained one of the highest approval ratings during his time in office. Rumor has it that when he was talking to you, you felt like you were the most important thing in the world. \nThere is no doubt that he was a great leader. There is also no doubt that he was, and continues to be, a citizen of the United States of America. A citizen who is subject to all of the laws put forth by the government to keep the justice system fair and reasonable. Hundreds of citizens sign their names knowing full well that if they "give false testimony concerning a material matter with the willful intent to provide false testimony, rather than as a result of confusion, mistake, or faulty memory," that they can either receive a higher penalty for the original crime they committed, or be brought to trial for that act alone. I have a hard time believing that an esteemed lawyer such as former President Clinton did not know what he was getting into when he started to sign his name to the testimony.\nAfter presiding over a case concerning criminal perjury, Circuit Judge Stephen S. Trott said, "The ultimate mission of the system upon which we rely to protect the liberty of the accused as well as the welfare of society is to ascertain the factual truth, and to do so in a manner that comports with due process of law as defined by our Constitution."\nNo one should be above the law. If the systems we rely on are only in place to apply to a chosen few, then the system is not doing it's job. If Clinton is truly a man of the people, then he should step off his pedestal and get a taste of what it is like to be one.