Is There A Way Out?

Monday, Sep. 28, 1998 By NANCY GIBBS AND MICHAEL DUFFY

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The way people die in caves is by going forward too fast, into wedges that trap them, rivers that drown them and mazes that defeat them until they give up or starve. The journey to what Bill Clinton called the "rock-bottom truth" feels now like a headlong descent, a process no one can control, toward resolutions no one can assure. There are Republicans looking for treasure down here--political power embedded for years to come. And there are Democrats looking for someone to blame. But for the rest of us, there is too little light, too little air, no compass, no ropes: this is not a spectator sport. We just want someone to show us the way out.

That message was not lost on Washington last week, which is why over the weekend a very seasoned, fairly anxious council of Wise Men pushed hard to devise an exit strategy. The ground was shifting so fast under their feet that some thought it might be only a matter of days before the process passes a point of no return. The negotiators included some who just a week ago thought Clinton might yet escape punishment; now their main question was whether any compromise could head off resignation or impeachment.

For all the talk of censure--a public scolding in the Well of the House--these men knew that they had to go further. The currency was already devalued to the point that they needed a whole new category of discipline. By Saturday afternoon, censure was out and "sanctions" were in, which would include financial reparations for misuse of government resources during the past eight months and a demand that Clinton settle all legal issues with independent counsel Ken Starr, with an eye toward some admission of wrongdoing. Among those at the table or on the phone were White House officials, former Clinton aides Lloyd Cutler and Leon Panetta, top Democrats in Congress and their lawyers, including longtime Democratic counselor Bob Bauer. White House officials carefully leaked that the President has not yet agreed to accept a deal--a time-tested signal that negotiations were under way and a bargaining position established.

But none of that mattered unless they could get all sides to come to the table. It is challenge enough to perfect the punishment to fit the crime but even harder to craft it in a way that satisfies all the needs for justice from those who would have to bless it: the vengeful Republicans, the bitter Democrats, the rebellious Clinton, the righteous Ken Starr. And that wasn't very likely. The only glimmer of hope from the Republican side was coming from moderates who were worried about a backlash against the next ugly data dump, a spectacle that was sure to get worse this week. The party-line vote to release the videotape of Clinton's grand jury testimony gave Democrats their opening. Never mind that two-thirds of them had voted to release everything the week before. The minute the Judiciary committee recessed, Democratic members began challenging the fairness of the proceedings because it was their only lever in a legal matter where the facts were not on their side.