Letter From America
All the President's Women...
Here is what happened.
The accusers: To establish a pattern of Presidential sexual harassment, the Paula Jones sexual harassment case prosecution subpoenaed a deposition under oath from a former White House intern named Monica Lewinsky. In the deposition, Ms. Lewinsky, who is no longer an intern, testified that she had had no sexual relationship with the President.
The betrayer, and the devil: How did the Paula Jones' attorneys find out about Lewinsky? Courtesy Linda Tripp, a Bush White House employee, a hold out at the Clinton White House until 1994, who intensely disliked President Clinton. Tripp befriended Monica Lewinsky. Tripp's friend, "literary agent" slimy Lucianne Goldberg, whose hatred for Clinton exceeded Tripp's, came up with a devious scheme. Goldberg told Tripp: "Encourage Monica to divulge her relationship with Clinton over the phone and record it secretly. This could result in a best selling book!"
Intensely partial "independent" Council: Instead of writing the best seller, Tripp took the tapes of twenty hours of conversation with the unsuspecting Monica, in which she bragged of sexual relationship with Clinton, to the staunch Republican Kenneth Starr, the "independent" council, appointed by his Republican cronies to investigate the Democratic President. Starr was appointed to investigate the President's "shady" Whitewater land deal in Arkansas four years ago. Finding no Presidential wrong doing there, he expanded his investigations to include the White House travel office mismanagement, the suicide of the President's friend Vince Foster in 1993, and now Clinton's sexual life.
Sexual relationship with a consenting adult is not a crime in the USA; although it is not good for domestic tranquillity. What Starr is attempting to do is to grant Monica Lewinsky immunity from prosecution, in exchange of her changing her sworn deposition, and testifying that the President and his friend Vernon Jordan asked her to lie about the relationship. If Starr can prove that, then he can indict the President for obstruction of justice, and attempt to have him removed from the Presidency via impeachment or resignation. That would be the crowning achievement for the Republican partisan Starr, who could then justify spending over 30 million of the tax payers' money and having the government agencies such as the FBI under his disposal for four years.
The American public: Those who dislike Clinton reacted the quickest. Clinton has been receiving letters that began, "Listen, lover boy..." However, in the aftermath of all this, Clinton's approval rating remains virtually unchanged around 60 per cent. Seventy-one per cent of the Americans believe that he should remain President, even if he had a sexual relationship with the now 24-year old Lewinsky. However, if it is established that the President asked Ms. Lewinsky to lie about their relationship, then a majority of the Americans would want him to leave office. Majority of the Americans also believe that Starr is partisan, and out to get the President! Luckily for Clinton, the country cares much more about Dow Jones (the economy is doing great) than Paula Jones or Monica Lewinsky.
The President's character: Granted, the American people elected Bill Clinton the President, not the Pope. They were aware of his 12-year affair with a woman named Gennifer Flowers. (Tapes of their phone conversation have been made available to the public by the Republicans.) Half the Americans do believe that he propositioned Paula Jones in an Arkansas hotel in 1991. But all of these episodes took place before Bill Clinton became President Clinton. What is difficult to understand is how such an intelligent man, leading the country at a time of unprecedented prosperity and peace, could "risk it all on a dalliance with a White House intern."
Clinton is hardly the first politician or man with a testosterone problem. Nevertheless, one had the right to expect that he would postpone his dalliances until after he left the White House. Hiding behind semantics - that the relationship with Lewinsky was an "emotional" relationship, a "special" relationship, a "not improper" relationship, or a some sort of "back room clothes-on" relationship - will not help him. The fact is that the President let a lot of people down who believed in him. In 1963, as a brilliant High School student from Arkansas, Bill Clinton got to come to Washington and meet his idol, President Kennedy. He did not have to emulate Kennedy to the letter!
Hillary Clinton: She went on national television and vigorously defended her husband. She accused Starr of spearheading a right-wing plot to get her husband, and to annul the result of two Presidential elections. She may have a point. Paula Jones is financed by the Republicans. Kenneth Starr is a lifelong Republican, appointed by the Republicans to investigate the President, had opposed Clinton's policies on behalf of clients such as the tobacco lobby and is a close friend of Clinton-haters, Republican right-wing Senator Jesse Helms, and Moral Majority Leader Jerry Falwell.
Monica Lewinsky: In her senior year in high school Monica Lewinsky was voted "most likely to have name in the lights." People who know her say that she has a tendency to exaggerate and fabricate. She is easily star-struck.
The Republicans: Pretending to take the moral high road now, the Republicans are jumping with joy. This is one battle they believe they cannot lose. There is a saying that given money and time, anyone can be prosecuted. They have empowered Kenneth Starr with unlimited power and money. And the best news for the Republicans is that the Democrats cannot get back at them. The "special prosecutor" statue, enacted after Nixon's Watergate, comes up for renewal next year. Not a single legislator will vote for the renewal!
Innuendo: Ms. Lewinsky is Jewish. The story broke on Tuesday, January 20, just as the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was about to meet with President Clinton. Palestinians say that the affair was deliberately leaked at that precise moment so that President Clinton could be prevented from pressuring Mr. Netanyahu. Militant Jewish settlers in the West Bank say that it was divine intervention through Lewinsky that saved Netanyahu and Israel.
The Europeans: Several European leaders are under tremendous economic pressure. The Europeans mock America's fake puritanical streak. What they find more incredulous is that the inflation and unemployment is the lowest in America in decades, the economy is the strongest in the world, and yet the Americans want to throw out the leader who presided over this enormous success, only because a young woman threw herself at him!
Jokes: Comedians are having a field day. Some samplings: "Want to know why Al Gore is not visible these days? He is working on his inauguration speech." "All the previous Presidents are known as ex-President. Bill Clinton will be known as Sex President!" "American public is willing to forgive Bill Clinton as long as he sees a therapist - a male therapist!"
Prognosis: The "Comeback kid" will survive. Unless Starr can prove that he lied and asked Monica Lewinsky to lie. Clinton's 75-minute State of the Union speech on January 27 was his best ever. It was interrupted 40 times by bipartisan standing ovation. Watching him deliver his speech, it was hard to imagine that he was in any kind of trouble. President Clinton will have to lick his wounds for a while, but the prognosis for a complete recovery is good.
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