Which president said, “Mistakes were made?”
a) Ronald Reagan
b) Bill Clinton
c) Both
d) Neither.

The correct answer is c). Reagan uttered those memorable words after first denying he had anything to do with trading arms with terrorists in order to finance his own terrorists. Clinton said the same thing after first denying he had “sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky.”

I don’t know whether either or both presidents were referring to the original actions they first denied or to lying about their original actions or both.

As a rather traditional American Christian , I view terrorism as a crime and a sin, doing business with terrorists a crime and a sin, and lying as a sin. Engaging in terrorism is, for me, an impeachable offense, a “high crime” indeed, and I argue that lying about engaging in terrorism is also a “high crime” and an impeachable offense. I view adultery as a sin and lying about adultery a sin. But that is primarily a personal matter between consenting adults and God, not a crime and not an impeachable offense.

So which one got impeached and which one got revered by members of his own party? I guess that’s a comment on our society’s values.

This is not political partisanship here. Clinton deserved to be impeached for his real crimes, but not for lying about sex.

Notice each president referred to their actions as “mistakes” as if engaging in terrorism, adultery and lying were no more sinful than dropping a pencil. And using the passive voice, both presidents declined to admit they were at fault, merely someone was at fault for a “mistake.” After being pressed continually on the matter, Clinton, at least, admitted what he did was wrong. To my knowledge, Reagan did not do even that much. So much for the “traditional Christian values” his supporters claim to espouse. Looks to me like the modern moral relativism we Christians claim we oppose.

We also claim as one of our cherished “traditional values” personal responsibility. Does that apply to presidents or did someone exempt them from taking responsibility for their own actions?

I was reminded of both presidents’ moral wimpiness when I read Sunday’s account of South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson. James Rosen of Mc Clatchy Newspapers reported the guy who called the president a liar in the House was the same guy who threw a temper tantrum when a colleague pointed out the US had supplied Saddam Hussein with chemical and biological weapons. Rosen quotes Wilson saying “For you to say that is just hatred of America that is very obvious!”

Of course, Wilson is a politician in an apparently tight race for re-election. So such political posturing is not surprising. That’s what politicians do. But how do we non-politicians react?

When is it okay to criticize one’s government and when is criticizing one’s government “hating America?” Is calling the president a liar hating America? What about calling the previous president a liar?

We hold poor people accountable for their actions, even people with horrendous childhoods. So we don’t we hold privileged politicians responsible for theirs? Since when did holding them accountable become hating America?

Brian Sweeney, Jr. responded to one of my essays by proclaiming Rachel Corrie got what she deserved because she meddled in Israel’s actions to move people from their homes and make room for settlements by Israelis on lands occupied by Palestinians for centuries. He or one of his cronies argued Corrie had no business being in a “war zone.” In Brian’s own blog, he pointed out many Americans eat and smoke too much, exercise too little and expect the rest of us to subsidize their health care. The doctor does not look at Corrie’s and fat Americans’ behaviors as “mistakes detectable by 20-20 hindsight” the way he looks on Ronald Reagan’s support for Latin American terrorists and George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq. Why hold individual Americans accountable for their behaviors and give the politicians a free pass again and again?

Let’s face the truth: Our American government has a long history of meddling in other countries, particularly in Latin America and the Middle East. The principle Brian asserts for individuals—bad actions yield bad results—applies to US government officials as well. Holding them accountable is no more “blaming America first” than holding individual Americans accountable for their behavior is blaming Americans first.

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I had ten responses to my last essay. All those I read were about what I wrote and none were about me. For that I'm grateful.