“From 1995 to 2003, Bob Barr was a Congressman serving the 7th District of Georgia. In the House of Representatives, he served on the Judiciary Committee and was one of the managers of the Clinton impeachment. This book is Barr's record of the impeachment process from his point of view. The book is not as self-serving as I suspected it might be, but there are areas in which Barr's opinion of events may not be shared by all.
The decision to try to remove Bill Clinton from office by impeaching him was not one any of the parties involved from the House of Representatives took lightly. But Bob Barr believes quite strongly in upholding the letter of the law of the US Constitution, and for that reason, he could not allow the behavior of Clinton to go unexamined. There were many reasons to impeach Clinton; the Lewinsky matter was one of the smallest, almost insignificant ones; however, in that particular case, obstruction of justice and lying under oath to a Grand Jury could not be overlooked as far as Barr was concerned. What he was really after, though, was Clinton's reckless behavior in the area of national security, his complete disregard for campaign finance rules, and his violation of the civil liberties of those Clinton considered his enemies. Unfortunately, when it came time to draw up the articles of impeachment, it was not possible to include all the material Barr and his fellow Congressmen knew was relevant.
The outcome of the attempt to impeach Clinton is well known, but that does not make Barr's book less interesting. For anyone curious about the process of impeachment as well as the men who took responsibility for bringing the charges against Clinton, The Meaning Of Is is a brief but informative record of what took place. I've done other reading on this subject, and I found Barr's book to be both a good overall look at the process as well as a testament to the best of the US legislative branch of government.”