It is a curious way for an American hero to end a long career. But there it is: John Glenn — decorated veteran of World War II and Korea, first American astronaut to orbit the earth, and for 22 years a popular senator from Ohio — seems determined to spend his final days of public service obstructing the Senate’s investigation into the most bizarre, and perhaps most serious, national security scandal since Iran-contra.
Glenn, set to retire at the end of his term next year, is the ranking minority member of the Governmental Affairs Committee. Under its chairman, Sen. Fred Thompson, the committee is the appointed venue for investigating and ventilating the fund-raising abuses of the 1996 presidential campaign — preeminently the allegations of foreign influence and breaches of national security in exchange for political payoffs. Convened at the beginning of the year, the investigation has quickly disintegrated into partisan disputes, with charges of foot-dragging, obstruction, favoritism, and bad faith tossed about in press conferences and rancorous public meetings. Glenn and Thompson themselves are barely on speaking terms. Under Democratic pressure, the committee was given a deadline of December 31 to issue its report — a deadline that appears increasingly unworkable given the partisan delays. Once slated to begin in March, official hearings will now open on July 8.
