Democrats, Republicans try to refocus after trial

Friday, February 12, 1999

Democrats, Republicans try to refocus after trial

TRIAL: Clinton proceedings have affected students’ views of
politics

By Yiloc Lai

Daily Bruin Contributor

Lacking the 67 votes necessary to remove President Clinton from
office, Senate Republicans have begun to explore other ways to
punish Clinton, while their Democratic counterparts continue to
scramble for bipartisan support of their censure motion on
Wednesday. The final vote is expected to be announced today, at the
time of publication.

Although Clinton’s impeachment trial only formally drew to a
close Tuesday, the effect of the trial has already changed
students’ perception of the two parties and the political
process.

The impact of the trial on the relationship between Democrats
and Republicans as well as Clinton’s legacy remains largely unclear
because of the "cyclical nature of the political process,"
according to Joel Aberbach, director of the Center for American
Politics and Public Policy.

"It’s not clear how the impeachment trial has affected Congress,
because there was plenty of animosity between the Democrats and
Republicans before," he said. "The Republicans, in electing a more
conciliatory speaker, have changed."

Still, others say that the impeachment trial has helped both
parties create a more pronounced image.

David Sears, a UCLA professor of psychology and political
science, said he believes that Republicans’ "obsession" with the
impeachment proceedings both helped them to cultivate a moralistic
image and prevented the public from formulating a clear image of
the Democrats.

However, Dan Malashock, president of Bruin Democrats, said that
the Republican’s relentless prosecution of Clinton helped
distinguish the Democrats as "the issue-oriented party," while
highlighting the extraordinary sacrifice the entire Clinton family
has made for the nation.

"If Clinton finds the distress of being president so great as to
be willing to destroy his personal life for it, we should
appreciate the sacrifice of his family more," Malashock a
fourth-year micro and molecular biology student, said.

Despite public sentiment heavily favoring Clinton, Bruin
Republicans President John Strelow, a fourth-year political science
student, maintains that the Republicans were merely fulfilling
their obligation as legislators while investigating the president’s
activities.

With the next presidential and congressional elections only two
years away, both Democrats and Republicans are trying to refocus
the public’s attention on politics and their policies for the next
century.

But the two parties will be adversely affected in the 2000
elections, according to both Sears and Strelow.

"Because this has been an event without heroes, involving a
tawdry set of events and an overzealous prosecution, both parties
will, on average, lose some of their voters temporarily," Sears
said.

It is these "tawdry" events that have piqued some UCLA students’
interest in politics and led them to believe that the impeachment
proceedings have actually helped the Democrats attract younger
voters.

"The sexual aspect of this trial, namely the president’s
relationship with Monica Lewinsky, has helped the Democrats attract
more young voters because they think sex is cool," said Anthony
Venute, first-year biology student.

While the sexual undertones of the impeachment proceedings may
have helped it garner attention, it is the historical aspect of the
trial that concerns and fascinates most UCLA students.

"Even if the trial was played out for political reasons, it
ended up sucking people in because of the simplicity of the concept
– the president had sex and lied about it," said Mary Katherine
Flynn, a fourth-year political science student.

"Whether the proceedings were ridiculous or not, they were
deemed worthy of our attention because it is a historical event for
our country," Flynn said.The Associated Press

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott heads to the Senate chamber on
Capitol Hill Thursday for continuing closed-door trial
deliberations.

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