President Clinton: Teaching children responsibility

By David Limbaugh

President Clinton can hold as many feel-good White House conferences
as he wants but until he at least attempts to practice what he preaches,
these ballyhooed confabs will hardly be worth the hot air they generate.

Clinton announced that he and Hillary will host a White House
Conference on Teen-agers on May 2 to “talk through the challenges of
raising responsible children.” It seems that they were moved by an
astonishing piece of research indicating that the preteen years set
patterns for behavior in adulthood. Wow! You mean to tell me that a
child’s early influences may affect what he becomes as an adult? This is
almost as shocking as that infamous Time Magazine story that revealed
that men and women were actually born different.

It never ceases to amaze me how liberals commission studies to
confirm what man has known since before the time he didn’t descend from
the Neanderthal. But far be it from me to discourage such studies,
especially if they finally supply liberals with data the rest of us
acquired by common sense.

Conservatives have always known that a child’s upbringing will
greatly influence the type of person he will grow up to be. Critically
important are the example the parents set, the values they impart and
the outside influences to which they expose the child.

As parents, you teach a child the importance of honesty and integrity
by punishing him for lying. You teach responsibility by making him
accountable for his actions. But all your preaching and discipline will
be for naught unless you live your own lives in accordance with those
principles. And even if you discharge your parental duties impeccably
your child is still at risk of being corrupted by things beyond your
control.

Though liberals may not realize this either without an expensive
study, the president of the United States, through his words and
actions, sets a moral example for our children. While parents don’t
expect to get much help from Hollywood in this department, they do have
a right to count on their Chief Executive to reinforce the values they
are instilling at home.

Bill Clinton can talk until he’s blue in the face about teaching
children to be responsible but he will continue to do more harm than
good as long as his actions undermine his empty words. Even without
benefit of a federal study, I’m prepared to tell you that his actions do
belie his words.

While his presidential fate was in the hands of his Senate
impeachment jurors, Clinton was issuing an apology a week and meeting
incessantly with his spiritual advisers. His subsequent pronouncements
on the subject demonstrate his lack of contrition.

According to Clinton, he only did one thing wrong and that was merely
a mistake. (Just for the record, having relations with an intern in the
Oval Office, lying about it to the American people and the court,
suborning Betty Currie’s perjury, and other miscellaneous obstructions
of justice were not mistakes, but intentional wrongs.)

“I’m not ashamed of the fact that they impeached me. That was their
decision, not mine, and it was wrong. As a matter of law, Constitution,
and history, it was wrong. I’m glad I didn’t quit, and I’m glad we
fought it. … I am proud of what we did here because I think we saved
the Constitution of the United States.”

Listen up, America’s youth. It was Congress’ and Ken Starr’s fault
that the president committed these crimes and other despicable acts. It
was the Independent Counsel and Congress that subverted the Constitution
for trying to make the president accountable for engaging in high crimes
and misdemeanors.

The message: No matter what you do, if you deny it and blame your
accusers, you’ll get away with it. When possible, always pass the buck.
If you repeat a lie often enough it will be accepted as truth. And,
pretend to be sorry as long it serves your interests, but not a second
longer.

The president could do a lot more for our children by accepting
responsibility and accountability for his actions than by holding
bogus conferences that pretend to search in earnest for answers that are
right in front of our faces.

David Limbaugh

David Limbaugh is a writer, author and attorney. His latest book is "Guilty By Reason of Insanity." Follow him on Twitter @davidlimbaugh and his website at www.davidlimbaugh.com. Read more of David Limbaugh's articles here.