Are legal problems debilitating the Clinton presidency?
MARGARET WARNER: And what do you think about Mark’s point, though? What do the Republicans do if an interim report does come? I mean, are they hankering to get at this, or- PAUL GIGOT: No. I don’t think-I think they’re hankering to get out of town. I don’t know that they have decided, and so much depends on what the substance is really. It depends how the press plays what that substance is, and it depends what Monica Lewinsky says. You really don’t-can’t predict the political reaction, until you see what the merits are. MARGARET WARNER: Do you agree with Paul’s point, Mark, that this is having a debilitating effect on the Clinton presidency in terms of being able to get stuff done? MARK SHIELDS: That has been part of the Justice Department’s argument. So, I mean, I have to take the Justice Department’s word. I don’t think there’s any question that it has to be time, effort, and energy and distraction involved, when this is the-Erskine Bowles, the chief of staff at the White House, made
