Is the President Above the Law?

Anyone who has read the newspapers or is familiar with the history of the past fifty years knows that the answer to that question is "No." Without need to mention names or political parties, it is clear that when the President or his close associates lie or break the law a political price is paid.

The reason a price is paid is because the political opposition demands and gets hearings and legal action. When the President lies or makes obviously misleading statements it spills over on his party. To save their own reputations and political futures the President`s own party members get "real".

Students of political history know that Presidents have lied and made misleading statements -- in front of television cameras. A President declined to run for reelection after misleading us deeper and deeper into Viet Nam. Remember the phantom attack on a U.S. ship in the Gulf of Tonkin? Perhaps the biggest lie was, "I am not a crook". The Attorney General and many men appointed by the author of that lie went to prison. A Vice President claimed to be "out of the loop" regarding U.S. involvement in Central American politics (read killings). And he was repudiated in the next Presidential election. A President lied on television about his personal life, and later equivocated while under oath. Many believe that the political cost was paid in the next election.

We are in the middle of an investigation of 9/11. The President, Vice President and various presidential appointees have been compelled by political pressures to testify. The veracity, or perceived veracity, of their testimony may become a deciding factor in the next presidential election. This week`s hearings may rival the Watergate Hearings for political impact.