Pencil Down, Mr. President

WASHINGTON: Mr. Clinton, your homework is due. Henry Hyde says he wants the President’s answers today to those 81 questions he has about Clinton’s grand jury testimony -- or else the Judiciary Committee is going to subpoena them. The White House says they’re on the way. But don't expect any new revelations: the President's written responses are every bit as Clintonesque as were the spoken ones back in August.

Meanwhile, the slow wheels of politics continue to turn endlessly. Judiciary Committee staffers, under the grumpy leadership of majority counsel David Schippers, are still crafting three articles of impeachment that appear to have little chance of passing the full House. And Committee Democrats have 19 questions of their own for Ken Starr about his testimony. This thing will never end: Starr now says he plans to keep his investigation active for another two years, in case he wants to prosecute Clinton when he leaves office. Amid it all, the President took Thanksgiving off and went golfing with the inlaws. Perhaps he’s thankful he still has some.