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CHAPTER 15: BRIDGE TO THE 21ST CENTURYOUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORYAmericans were more inclined toenjoy the ride while it lasted than toplan for a coming bust.THE ELECTION OF 1996 ANDTHE POLITICAL AFTERMATHPresident Clinton undertook hiscampaign for re-election in 1996under the most favorable of circumstances.If not an imposing personalityin the manner of a Roosevelt,he was a natural campaigner, whommany felt had an infectious charm.He presided over a growing economicrecovery. He had positionedhimself on the political spectrum ina way that made him appear a manof the center leaning left. His Republicanopponent, Senator Robert Doleof Kansas, Republican leader in theupper house, was a formidable legislatorbut less successful as a presidentialcandidate.Clinton, promising to “build abridge to the 21st century,” easilydefeated Dole in a three-party race,49.2 percent to 40.7 percent, with8.4 percent to Ross Perot. He thusbecame the second American presidentto win two consecutive electionswith less than a majority of thetotal vote. (The other was WoodrowWilson in 1912 and 1916.) The Republicans,however, retained controlof both the House of Representativesand the Senate.Clinton never stated much ofa domestic program for his secondterm. The highlight of its firstyear was an accord with Congressdesigned to balance the budget,further reinforcing the president’sstanding as a fiscally responsiblemoderate liberal.In 1998, American politics entereda period of turmoil with therevelation that Clinton had carriedon an affair inside the WhiteHouse with a young intern. At firstthe president denied this, telling theAmerican people: “I did not havesexual relations with that woman.”The president had faced similarcharges in the past. In a sexual harassmentlawsuit filed by a womanhe had known in Arkansas, Clintondenied under oath the White Houseaffair. This fit most Americans’ definitionof perjury. In October 1998,the House of Representatives beganimpeachment hearings, focusing oncharges of perjury and obstructionof justice.Whatever the merits of that approach,a majority of Americansseemed to view the matter as a privateone to be sorted out with one’sfamily, a significant shift in publicattitude. Also significantly, HillaryClinton continued to support herhusband. It surely helped also thatthe times were good. In the midstof the House impeachment debate,the president announced the largestbudget surplus in 30 years. Publicopinion polls showed Clinton’s approvalrating to be the highest of hissix years in office.That November, the Republicanstook further losses in the midtermcongressional elections, cuttingtheir majorities to razor-thin margins.House Speaker Newt Gingrichresigned, and the party attemptedto develop a less strident image.Nevertheless, in December theHouse voted the first impeachmentresolution against a sitting presidentsince Andrew Johnson (1868),thereby handing the case to theSenate for a trial.Clinton’s impeachment trial,presided over by the Chief Justiceof the United States, held littlesuspense. In the midst of it, thepresident delivered his annual Stateof the Union address to Congress.He never testified, and no seriousobserver expected that any of theseveral charges against him wouldwin the two-thirds vote requiredfor removal from office. In the end,none got even a simple majority. OnFebruary 12, 1999, Clinton was acquittedof all charges.AMERICAN FOREIGNRELATIONS IN THECLINTON YEARSBill Clinton did not expect to bea president who emphasized foreignpolicy. However, like his immediatepredecessors, he quickly discoveredthat all international crises seemedto take a road that led throughWashington.He had to deal with the messyaftermath of the 1991 Gulf War.Having failed to depose SaddamHussein, the United States, backedby Britain, attempted to containhim. A United Nations-administeredeconomic sanctions regime,designed to allow Iraq to sell enoughoil to meet humanitarian needs,proved relatively ineffective. Saddamfunneled much of the proceedsto himself, leaving large masses ofhis people in misery. Military “noflyzones,” imposed to prevent theIraqi government from deploying itsair power against rebellious Kurds inthe north and Shiites in the south,required constant U.S. and Britishair patrols, which regularly fendedoff anti-aircraft missiles.The United States also providedthe main backing for U.N. weaponsinspection teams, whose missionwas to ferret out Iraq’s chemical,biological, and nuclear programs,verify the destruction of existingweapons of mass destruction,and suppress ongoing programs tomanufacture them. Increasinglyobstructed, the U.N. inspectorswere finally expelled in 1998. Onthis, as well as earlier occasionsof provocation, the United Statesresponded with limited missilestrikes. Saddam, Secretary of StateMadeline Albright declared, wasstill “in his box.”The seemingly endless Israeli-Palestinian dispute inevitably engagedthe administration, althoughneither President Clinton nor formerPresident Bush had much to do withthe Oslo agreement of 1993, whichestablished a Palestinian “authority”to govern the Palestinian populationwithin the West Bank and the GazaStrip and obtained Palestinian recognitionof Israel’s right to exist.As with so many past MiddleEastern agreements in principle,328329