For the senators not normally short of a word or several hundred on most subjects will be largely silenced
For the senators, not normally short of a word or several hundred on most subjects, will be largely silenced in the impeachment trial. They will be taking part as jurors, and however much they may take part in offstage manoeuvring, in the trial itself they will be limited to submitting questions in writing through the Chief Justice.The constitution prescribes that the President can only be found guilty on an impeachment by a two-thirds majority, that is, by 67 senators, which is 12 more than the present Republican majority of 55. The failure of bipartisan attempts to cut the trial process short means that Rehnquist is now bound to have considerable influence over the proceedings. The book is being republished, and has already reached the bestseller lists, but Rehnquist has decided not to update it for fear of giving away his opinion on matters that could come up in the Clinton trial.That has not stopped Washington journalists rushing to see if they can glean any hints from it about how Rehnquist will conduct the trial.
The least of it is that Rehnquist, a highly ideological conservative, was sworn to judicial impartiality by the presiding officer and oldest member of the Senate, Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, a man so far to the Right that 51 years ago he ran for President as a “Dixiecrat” in protest against the very modest moves the Democratic party (to which Thurmond then belonged) had made in the direction of conceding civil rights to black Americans.
Another irony lies in the fact that Rehnquist, as an amateur historian, published a book in 1992, Grand Inquests, about the two previous most important impeachment trials in American history: those of Chief Justice Samuel Chase in 1813, and of President Andrew Johnson in 1868. THOSE WHO contend that history has a twisted sense of humour found their perfect example this week in the spectacle of William Hubbs Rehnquist being sworn in to preside as an “impartial” judge over the impeachment trial of President Clinton. For most of us the American revolution has been won, the American dream has come true.What I ask of you tonight is to help me make that dream come true for millions to whom it’s an impossible dream today.. And in his chosen profession of politics, first there were scores, then hundreds and then thousands and finally millions who worked for his success.And tonight he stands before you, nominated for President of the United States of America You can see why I believe so deeply in the American dream. A courageous wife and loyal children stood by him in victory and also in defeat. A father who had to go to work before he finished the sixth grade sacrificed everything he had so that his sons could go to college.A gentle Quaker mother with a passionate concern for peace quietly wept when he went to war but she understood why he had to go.A great teacher, a remarkable football coach, an inspirational minister encouraged him on his way.
To millions of children in this rich land this is their prospect – but this is only a part of what I see in America.I see another child tonight He hears a train go by At night he dreams of faraway places here he’d like to go It seems like an impossible dream But he is helped on his journey through life. And yet when he awakens, he awakens to a living nightmare of poverty, neglect and despair.He fails in school, he ends up on welfare. For him the American system is one that feeds his stomach and starves his soul. It breaks his heart.And in the end it may take his life on some distant battlefield.
He is America, he is a poet, he is a scientist, he’s a great teacher, he’s a proud craftsman, he’s everything we’ve ever hoped to be in everything we dare to dream about.He sleeps the sleep of a child, and he dreams the dreams of a child. He lives in a great city, he’s black or he’s white, he’s Mexican, Italian Polish, none of that matters. What matters: he’s an American child.That child in that great city is more important than any politician’s promise. And by our decision in this year, we – all of us here, all of you listening on television and radio – we will determine what kind of nation America will be. We will determine what kind of a world America will live in in the year 2000.Tonight, I see the face of a child.
Just to be alive in America, just to be alive at this time, is an experience unparalleled in history.Think: 32 years from now most Americans living today will celebrate a New Year that comes once in a thousand years. That’s what we will do.We’ve had enough of big promises and little action. The time has come for an honest government in the United States of America.My fellow Americans, I believe that historians will recall that 1968 marked the beginning of the American generation in world history. And what America needs are leaders to match the greatness of her people.And this great group of Americans – the forgotten Americans and others – know that the great question Americans must answer by their votes in November is this: Whether we shall continue for four more years the policies of the last five years.My fellow Americans, tonight I accept the challenge and the commitment to provide that new leadership for America and I ask you to accept it with me.And let us accept this challenge not as a grim duty but as an exciting adventure in which we are privileged to help a great nation realise its destiny, and let us begin by committing ourselves to the truth to see it like it is and tell it like it is, to find the truth, to speak the truth and to live the truth. It is another voice, it is a quiet voice in the tumult of the shouting. It is the voice of the great majority of Americans, the forgotten Americans.America’s in trouble today not because her people have failed but because her leaders have failed.