The Final Days of the Clinton Administration

1455 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Humans and animals cloning

Perhaps one of the most interesting times in a president’s administration is during the end of his term in office. Having reached the ultimate goal in a politician’s career, a president no longer has to worry about public opinion or any of the other political give and takes that usually influence a politician’s actions. He is truly free to act as he pleases almost free of consequences. Bill Clinton’s final days in office certainly demonstrated this fact. Using the ultimate unchecked executive power of clemency Clinton issued over 140 pardons and thirty six sentence commutations. He protected over a million acres of land through the creation of six new national monuments. He also nominated nine new federal judges. Clinton also issued a number of executive orders during this time. Unlike most previous presidents who laid low during their last days in office, Clinton was in a flurry of activity trying to exert some last bit of influence from his office. The reasons for his actions are wide spread, ranging from political to personal. The results of his actions were extensive, affecting many situations in the American political and judicial realms. The final days of Clinton administration may be the most controversial of a presidency that was full of tumult and plagued by scandals.

Most powers in our government do not go unchecked; the power of the presidential pardon is an exception to this rule. It is explicit in the constitution that this power was meant to be held solely by the president for the purpose of forcing him to use it sparingly and fairly. Nonetheless our government has evolved a system through which presidential pardons usually follow. The system was developed so as to insure that pardons were not used for personal or political gain. All clemency candidates are screened first by the department of justice and then a committee formed by the president before a full report, with recommendations for action, is presented to the president himself. Normally the department of justice does not consider an applicant eligible for a presidential pardon until five years after his or her sentence has been completed or after the conviction if no sentence is given. Also, according the normal regulations, pardons aren’t granted to people who are under probation or parole. Due to the wording in the constitu...

... middle of paper ...

...s were vast, setting an unheard of precedent for lame duck presidents. Many of Clinton’s actions were truly shameless, blatant abuses of power. Clinton’s two terms of presidency were marred by scandals, impeachment and lawsuits, but this did not stop him from saving the best for last. We may only hope that future two term presidents do not follow his standard of use of unchecked power in the final hour.

Bibliography

1. Bovard, James. Feeling Your Pain: The Explosion and Abuse of Government Power in the Clinton-Gore Years. New York: St. Martin’s, 2000

2. Olson, Barbra. The Final Days. Washington D.C.: Regnery Publishing INC., 2001

3. Braun, Stephen, Serrano, Richard A. “Clinton Pardons” Los Angeles Times, Feb. 25th, 2001.

4. Daday, Meg. “Clinton’s Final Days Controvesial” The online Observer Newspaper, Feb. 13th 2001.

http://www.dailyillini.com/jan01/jan18/news/news01.shtml

5. Doneberg, Jon. “Clinton Making a Strong Finish for final term” The Daily Illini, Jan. 18th 2001. http://www.dailyillini.com/jan01/jan18/news/news01.shtml

Show More
Related

  • The New Jersey Plan for the Constitution

    777 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sidney M. Milkis, Michael Nelson. The American Presidency Origins & Development, 1776-2011. Washington DC: CQ Press, 2008.

    Read More

  • The Rhetoric of an Apology: The Bill Clinton Sex Scandal

    1763 Words  | 4 Pages

    On August 17, 1998, exactly one year after making the statement above, President Bill Clinton prepared to deliver a speech concerning a scandal that had gripped the nation for months. It is needless to say that this was an important moment during the Clinton administration. After accusations of sexual harassment, Clinton addressed the nation and admitted to having a relationship with Monica Lewinsky. In this critical speech Clinton set out to admit to wrong-doings, provide a few reasons for his action, and ultimately persuade the audience into moving on and forgetting the scandal. This essay will break down his speech into sections and examine the most and least effective strategies that Clinton employed and how well he executed those strategies. This is an interesting speech given under rare circumstances. Not since Watergate had an American president been under such harsh moral criticism from the public. By looking critically at this speech we are able to gain valuable insight into Clinton's motives.

    Read More

  • Does the Public Have Unrealistic Expectations for the Presidency?

    1493 Words  | 3 Pages

    The president has a significant amount of power; however, this power is not unlimited, as it is kept in check by both the judicial and legislative branches. The president is held responsible for passing legislation that will improve the lives of everyday Americans, even though he shares his legislative powers with Congress. The sharing of power acts as an impediment to the president’s ability to pass legislation quickly and in the form it was originally conceived. However, Americans do not take this into account when judging a president, as they fully expect him to fulfill all of the promises he makes during his campaign. By making promises to pass monumental legislation once elected without mentioning that Congress stands as an obstacle that must be hurdled first, the president creates unrealistic expectations of what he can fulfill during his time in office (Jenkins-Smith, Silva, and Waterman, 2005). A president is expected to have the characteristics that will allow him to efficiently and effectively lead the nation and to accomplish the goals he set during his campaign (Jenkins-Smith et al., 2005). There have been a handful of presidents that have been immortalized as the ideal person to lead the United States and if a president does not live up to these lofty expectations the American public will inevitably be disappointed. Since every president is expected to accomplish great things during his presidency, he is forced to created and project a favorable image through unrealistic promises. The combination of preconceived ideas of the perfect president and the various promises made by presidential candidates during their campaign create unrealistic expectations of the president by the American public.

    Read More

  • Washington and the Revolutonary War

    782 Words  | 2 Pages

    Shogan, Colleen. Washington, George. In Genovese, Michael A. Encyclopedia of the American Presidency Revised Edition. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2009. Web. .

    Read More

  • The Problem with Presidential Primaries

    1577 Words  | 4 Pages

    v[vii] “The Green Papers: Election 2000 Presidential Primary Season.” The Green Papers: Election 2000. 18 Mar. 2000. Online. Internet. 18 Mar. 2000. Available: http://www.thegreenpapers.com/.

    Read More

  • Presidential Power: The Power of Persuasion

    1923 Words  | 4 Pages

    The approach focused on in this analysis will be the Neustadtian approach; a theory presented in Neustadt’s seminal work entitled Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents. Also up for analysis is an article by Matthew Kerbel, a follower of the Neustadtian approach who provides empirical analysis that substantiates Neustadt’s work.

    Read More

  • The Hunting of the President

    1453 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Hunting of the President presented an argument by Harry Thomason and Nickolas Perry that from 1990 to 2000 a group of people were committed to destroying the reputation of William (Bill) Jefferson Clinton. Through elaborate testimonials, the claim is that this group of well-funded individuals as well as media attempted to gain from Clinton’s alleged misfortunes.

    Read More

  • Impeachment

    1593 Words  | 4 Pages

    Only three times in the 226 year history of the office of the President of the United States has the idea of impeachment reared its head. Only twice has a president been impeached, and only one president has been driven out of office due to possible high crimes and misdemeanors. Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton both were impeached by the House of Representatives, and faced trial in the Senate. Both presidents were acquitted of their supposed transgressions, and were allowed to remain in office. Richard Nixon, despite never experiencing impeachment, vacated his office due to increasing pressure to resign and spare the Senate from going through the process due to his obvious guilt. Nixon was actually in violation of his duties as President, but Clinton and Johnson were impeached by political rivals. Nixon’s actions were considered in such grave violation of the Constitution, that he did not keep his office, whereas Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton stayed.

    Read More

  • Neustadt's Argument On Presidential Power

    1183 Words  | 3 Pages

    He thinks that regardless of the existence of other influential performers from other branches of the government, the president can act based on many other rights he possesses, such as executive orders and national security directives. These tools will allow him to bypass the traditional legislative process. Despite that both authors define power as president’s prime influence, Howell however argues that president has more capacity in which he can partially decide the outcome of a given situation if not whole. Howell steps further and insists more on the president’s capability despite the fact that Neustadt defines power as individual power. Howell envisions that the President must influence the “content of public policy”, in contrast, Neustadt’s argument is based on the exercise of the “Effective” impact by President. Howell, on the other hand, considers that the President is way more powerful on his own than Neustadt thinks. Howell thinks that executive orders, for example, open the path to the President to make important decisions without trying to persuade Congress or the other branches of the government to gain their support. Howell uses President Truman’s decision about federal employees. Howell’s view of unilateral presidential action perfectly fits moments when of crisis when the President, as the Commander in Chief cannot afford the long process of the congressional decision making. As he writes “a propensity of presidents, especially during times of crisis, to unilaterally impose their will on the American public.”

    Read More

  • Joe Arpaio's Pardon Power

    698 Words  | 2 Pages

    Pardons and sentence commutations have been granted regularly and frequently, and sometimes that power was exploited and has great potential to be exploited (Love 2007). While there is clearly criminal injustice, pardons can serve as a way to remedy the injustices, but it is also vulnerable to misuse (Love 2007). For example, in the Lewis Libby case, Bush found the sentencing to be unreasonably punitive even though it was lawfully ordained (Love 2007). As the president, he had the power to influence the court to reassess other similar cases which could set the precedence for tolerating other similar crimes. While this particular case is not necessarily very likely to compel Congress or the Judicial system to change sentencing protocol, the power of pardons can potentially lead to

    Read More

  • The Effects Of The Watergate Scandal

    1778 Words  | 4 Pages

    After successfully ending American fighting in Vietnam and improving international relations with the U.S.S.R. and China, Richard Nixon became the only President to ever resign the office, as a result of the Watergate scandal. Hubris has come to refer to recklessness and overconfidence among those who wield power in financial or political fields- particularly when it leads to disastrous errors of judgement. The word Watergate has entered the political dictionary as a term synonymous with corruption and scandal as a result of the overwhelming pride, or hubris, of President Richard Nixon, who engulfed himself in his own omnipotence.

    Read More

  • Bill Clintons Pros And Cons

    738 Words  | 2 Pages

    Said but not meant, because in fact the Clinton Dynasty is riddled with disgusting offenses legal or moral. They are liars, criminals, and blatantly unpatriotic.

    Read More

  • Presidential Power

    450 Words  | 1 Pages

    Richard E. Neustadt, the author of Presidential Power, addresses the politics of leadership and how the citizens of the United States rate the performance of the president's term. We measure his leadership by saying that he is either "weak or "strong" and Neustadt argues that we have the right to do so, because his office has become the focal point of politics and policy in our political system.

    Read More

  • The Clinton-lewinsky Scandal

    628 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lately, the top story in the news day after day, months after months have been about William Jefferson Clinton, also known as Bill. Who could blame them, there is nothing better than a story out of the ordinary, especially one with presidential status. For the past months he has been the most talked about figure, being the essential topic for news, talk shows, late night comedy and even going as far as the big screen. Talk about 'Primary Colors' and 'Wag the Dog.' What has gotten to me the most however, were the constant flow of Republicans, along with a few Democrats, who just want to say how shocked and embarrassed they are along with the people of the United States.The president had not just become the most talked about figure, but also one history had ever seen, so far that is, breaking the record and becoming a topic of conversation and debate 'twenty-four seven.' The people, who I think were most affected by this crisis and feel very sad for, are the Republicans, since they had lost severe amount of sleep over the president's bedroom crisis. They had to perform their republican duties by shocking our brains with the president's affair with Monica Lewinsky. We had to ignore the rest of the world news and its issues while they plough through the valley of lies, abuse of power and something they called high crimes and misdemeanors.

    Read More

  • Changing Interpretations of The Prince and Niccolo Machiavelli

    2647 Words  | 6 Pages

    Turner, Robert L. (1999, July 20). A cynical look at American politics; Book Review; The New Prince; by Dick Morris. The Boston Globe, p. E3.

    Read More

More about The Final Days of the Clinton Administration

Open Document