Claire Cameron is a novelist, essayist and author of the memoir How to Survive a Bear Attack. This poem was assembled using reporting, commentary, and analysis about the Watergate scandal in the United States in the early 1970s, which led to the resignation of the president.
“I am not a crook”
It’s hard to miss some broad similarities a pivot point in the American presidency it was a contentious time
I pretty well knew he was guilty even before the evidence came out oh, now there’s tapes? this should be interesting
His face perspiring, his eyes red-rimmed You heard him saying “I am not a crook” and you knew he was
Justifying illegal actions in the name of “national security” he used his office to break the law and up-end the Constitution
A web of deceit so insanely complicated it’s impossible for them to keep track the testimony covered the 18½-minute gap in a White House tape recording
The nation is deeply divided my dad had called the hearings and nightly revelations a “smear campaign” blaming the Democrats
Polls showed public support for impeachment jumping 13 percent one week hard to overstate the public’s role in backing the institutional checks
Is it too late? for the first time in many years Congress is seeking to assert itself finally taking action
A simple majority is required thus six Republican Congressmen joined all 21 Democrats and found grounds for impeachment
It is not enough that the US president is “not a crook” there is more to honor and duty than not stealing from the public
The very distinction between truth and falsehood has receded into obscurity more than ever before
After several decades of an increasingly imperial presidency who, in defiance of God and man alike, usurped authority infinitely too far.