To the Point

David Brock and Clinton Era Politics

The last report of the Independent Counsel closes the book on the scandals of the Clinton administration. After September 11, and with war at hand in the Middle East, the events that produced Bill Clinton's impeachment sound like small potatoes. File Gate, Travel Gate, Whitewater, Paula Jones and Monica Lewinsky seem like names from another, less consequential, era. Was it ten years of wasted time and money? Was America's political system "blinded by the right?" We look to the past for some lessons for the future with government watchdogs and political journalists, including ex-conservative David Brock and former liberal David Horowitz. Newsmaker: Arafat: Should He Stay or Should He Go? Some weeks ago, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared that Yasser Arafat had become "irrelevant" to the future of the Middle East. Now, as Arab leaders prepare for this week's summit in Beirut, the President of the Palestinian Authority is again center stage. Hugh Pope, of The Wall Street Journal, considers the consequences of Arafat's potential absence from the summit and the potential of the Saudi peace plan. Reporter's Notebook: African American Victories at the Oscars Last night, the Motion Picture Academy made history. After Sidney Poitier's Oscar for lifetime achievement, Denzel Washington became the second African American to win the award for best actor, and Halle Berry the first Black woman ever to win best actress. Paula Woods, whose Stormy Weather traces the history of blacks in Hollywood, has more on the real-life Hollywood ending.