For the second year, President Bill Clinton is scheduled to deliver his State of the Union address with a dark cloud of scandal hanging over his head.

Last year, Clinton talked about his plans to “save Social Security first” to Congress just days after the story had broken about a possible affair with some former White House intern wearing a beret.

Well, it’s now a year later, and we know the intern’s name, and we know they had an affair. We know that both Clinton and Lewinsky initially lied about their relationship.

And we also know that the majority of the country doesn’t give a damn.

Shortly after Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives in December, there was talk coming from Republicans that Clinton shouldn’t give his annual address.

The claims of Clinton’s detractors is that because of his impeachment, it would be an awkward situation for the president to address a Congress that had condemned him just a month earlier.

But what are the real motivations of those who do not want Clinton to speak?

Are they afraid that the charismatic Clinton will climb even higher in his job approval ratings?

Are they afraid that Clinton will begin “Oprah” confession time and start discussing an issue of which everyone is sick?

Not likely. Clinton probably won’t even appear in his own defense during his Senate trial, and he didn’t make one reference to la femme Lewinsky during last year’s speech.

Are they afraid the man they want to cast out against their constituents’ wishes will still appear presidential, despite the fact that the world now knows the ins and outs of his sex life?

But that’s the point, Clinton is still our president. Maybe he’s a damaged president, and maybe he won’t be our president in a year. But he’s our president now, and it’s the wishes of the American people that he continues his work.

It is a job requirement of the president to deliver an annual address on how the country currently is doing and what he hopes the country will accomplish in the future.

Until his last day in office, whether he just leaves or is forced out, Clinton is our president, and it’s his duty to act accordingly.

Clinton should lay out the plans for his future because his real audience isn’t Congress, it’s the American people.