Don't look for President Clinton's picture in The Book of Virtues; bestselling author
and former Secretary of Education William J. Bennett considers Bill Clinton
uniquely unvirtuous. In the wake of the White House intern sex scandal, Bennett
accuses Clinton of crimes at least as serious as those committed by Richard
Nixon during the Watergate imbroglio. Rising above anti-Clinton polemics, The
Death of Outrage urges the American public--which initially displayed not much more
than a collective shrug--to take issue with the president's private and public
conduct. Clinton should be judged by more than the state of the economy, implores
Bennett. The commander in chief sets the moral tone of the nation; a reckless
personal life and repeated lying from the bully pulpit call for a heavy sanction. The
American people should demand nothing less, says the onetime federal drug czar.
In each chapter, Bennett lays out the rhetorical defenses made on Clinton's behalf
(the case against him is "only about sex," harsh judgmentalism has no place in
modern society, independent counsel Kenneth Starr is a partisan prosecutor, etc.)
and picks them apart. He may not convince everybody, but this is an effective
conservative brief against Bill Clinton. --John J. Miller