The Clinton Meltdown: Senseless

REPUBLICANS say it won’t fly. But many Democrats, opinion-makers, and poll respondents say they like the idea of censure. They are reluctant to remove a President from office, but they don’t want to approve of perjury and cigar parties either. Censure sounds good, and it means nothing: a perfect punishment for the age of Clinton.

On only one occasion has a house of Congress voted to censure the President. Is that because the penalty is so fierce, or so feeble? In 1832 Andrew Jackson vetoed a bill to renew the charter of the Bank of the United States, and a year later he withdrew the Federal Government’s deposits. The Senate, controlled by opposition Whigs, deplored both Jackson’s goals and his methods, and in 1834 found him “in derogation” of the Constitution and the laws.

About the Author

Richard Brookhiser

Historian Richard Brookhiser is a senior editor of National Review and a senior fellow at the National Review Institute.

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REPUBLICANS say it won’t fly. But many Democrats, opinion-makers, and poll respondents say they like the idea of censure. They are reluctant to remove a President from office, but they don’t want to approve of perjury and cigar parties either. Censure sounds good, and it means nothing: a perfect punishment for the age of Clinton.

On only one occasion has a house of Congress voted to censure the President. Is that because the penalty is so fierce, or so feeble? In 1832 Andrew Jackson vetoed a bill to renew the charter of the Bank of the United States, and a year later he withdrew the Federal Government’s deposits. The Senate, controlled by opposition Whigs, deplored both Jackson’s goals and his methods, and in 1834 found him “in derogation” of the Constitution and the laws.