I never thought I'd say this, but I actually feel sorry for George W. Bush.

Poor guy. Here he is, finally in the White House. Took the oath.
Doesn't have to worry about the recount anymore. Moved in.
Doesn't have to worry about losing any more furniture. Whole place repainted.
Doesn't have to worry about stains on the walls. Cabinet confirmed.
Doesn't have to worry about Ashcroft anymore.

George Bush has nothing to do now but push his legislative proposals.
And, God knows, he's trying. He's been out there talking about taxes, schools,
prescription drugs and military spending. Problem is, nobody's listening.
Nobody cares.
All the cameras and all the attention are focused on Capitol Hill, where
Congressional Republicans have launched still one more round of investigations of Bill Clinton.

On Wednesday (Feb. 14), for example, Bush flew off to Charleston, W.V. to visit with
National Guard and Reserve troops and make his pitch for increased military spending.
Big event. Great photo-op. They even played ``Hail to the Chief.''
So what?
He might as well have stayed home.

All three networks led their evening news of Sen. Arlen Specter's hearing into Clinton's
pardon of Marc Rich. Followed by news that New York U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White,
miffed she wasn't consulted on the Rich pardon, is starting her own investigation.
And that followed by the tiff between Bill Clinton and New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani
over office space in Harlem.

Halfway into the newscasts came the obligatory presidential flash:
"Oh, by the way, the president was in West Virginia today."

Poor George Bush. He still can't get out from under Bill Clinton's shadow.
And it's starting to bug him. Flying back to Washington from another invisible
presidential excursion earlier in the week, Bush told reporters:
"My attitude is ... all this business about the transition, it's time to
move on. I'm just ... looking forward, and that's what I'm going to do.''

His message to Congress was clear: Forget this Clinton stuff and get down to work
on my programs. But Specter and other congressional Republicans aren't listening.
They're addicted. They've got the Clinton bug. They can't, or won't, move on.
If they weren't investigating Bill Clinton for something, they wouldn't know what to do.

But what's fueling Bush's frustration is not just all the attention surrounding the
Clinton pardon hearings; it's their utter pointlessness.

The power to pardon is the one absolute power granted in the Constitution.
It is given only to the president. And many presidents have used it to grant
what were considered, at the time, controversial pardons. Washington pardoned
leaders of the Whiskey Rebellion. Jefferson pardoned persons branded as traitors
under the Alien and Sedition Act. Lincoln pardoned Confederate sympathizers;
and Truman, draft dodgers in World War II.
In our own day, Ford pardoned Nixon and Bush pardoned Weinberger.
Clinton was not the first to raise eyebrows with his use of the pardon power.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not defending the Rich pardon.
I don't know anyone not on Rich's payroll who does. Rich did not merit a pardon.
For whatever reason he did it, Clinton was just dead wrong.
But the fact is: He had the pardon power, he used it, and there's not one thing
Congress can do about it. Even Orrin Hatch agrees: "The president's pardon
power under the Constitution is absolute. And there is nothing we can do to
change what has happened."

But Specter, ever eager to fan the anti-Clinton flames, refuses to let go.
He proposes amending the Constitution to allow Congress to override a
presidential pardon by a two-thirds vote. Or, even more bizarre, impeaching
Clinton -- again! This latter suggestion is especially strange from a man who
voted against impeaching Clinton the first time around. In that trial, remember,
Specter stunned everyone by voting ``Not proven'' -- citing an ancient Scottish law.

So far, fortunately, no member of the House, where the impeachment process
must begin, has done anything more than laugh at Specter's call to re-impeach Clinton.
But his call for amending the Constitution is equally absurd. It's time to stop stewing about,
spouting about, worrying about, fuming about, obsessing about and investigating Bill Clinton.
It's time to move on.

- - -