Sep 28,1998
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Beyond
the Monica Mess continued... It is not half as lofty as it is made out to be. Clinton's over-active and increasingly desperate spin doctors may be simplifying matters by saying that the president is being hounded because he failed to resist the "thong underwear" of an over-ambitious, starry-eyed White House intern. It is not as simple as that. Discounting the claim by psychotherapist Jerome Levbin in the Clinton syndrome that the president has a "cohesive identity" when he is "people-pleasing or engaging in sexually addictive behaviour", the fact is, Clinton lied and lied repeatedly. He lied to the courts, the Grand Jury, the Cabinet and the people. he was not even averse to encouraging others to lie for him. In a society crafted on a large degree of trust, Clinton not only downed his zipper, he let down the entire side.
A majority of Americans are thoroughly confused. There is a vocal section that sees impeachment as the just reward for a bouncer and a cad.The great majority is, however, still wary of sticking the knife in. Americans have never had it so good and they just don't want to rock the boat. The national interest, wrote the NYT last week after gauging the mood, "could also be served by a settlement that allows Mr Clinton to stay in office with a heavy Congressional reprimand". It's a face-saving formula that is being talked about and grudgingly accepted by many. Not least because it blends law and expediency. The Republicans would love it. A chastened Clinton would not only sulk thereafter, he would effectively snuff out Gore's chances. Already opinion polls are predicting a handsome victory for the Republicans in the event of a Bush-Gore contest. However, arriving at this rap-on-the-knuckles compromise is certainly not going to be either trouble-free or quick. For a start, Clinton's minders are anxious to establish a degree of moral equivalence between the prosecutors and the prosecuted. In short, to inform the American people that Clinton isn't the only rake in public life. Washington is rife with rumours -- and no rumour in the First World is entirely unfounded -- that a White House functionary has established a muck-raking department to unearth disagreeable facets of the past lives of judiciary committee members. The first target was committee chairman Henry Hyde. An online magazine with close links to the White House published details of an extra-marital affair Hyde had 30 years ago. The expose was pathetic and produced a strong reaction in capitol Hill. It rebounded on the White House, but even that seems premeditated. It was just an early warning by the White House that sexual archaeology could claim victims in Congress as well.
The crude ploy is certain to galvanise the Congress into greater frenzy and prompt the publication of some more evidence accumulated by Starr. As a sequel to the original report, the House committee looks set to release the videotape of the president's grand jury deposition and follow it up with footage from his testimony in the Paula Jones case last January where he was said to be stunned by the mention of Monica. Clinton's performance before the grand jury was not particularly flattering. The calculation is that the two tapes will dent Clinton's approval ratings and leave him at the mercy of a vengeful legislature. Already beleaguered Democrats are saying it would be more prudent to let a wholesome figure like Gore carry out the Clinton agenda. This is a view that is gaining mention and could end up overwhelming an isolated Clinton. From the Republican point of view, an emasculated Clinton, unable to fight and unwilling to quit, seems the best bet. For a start, the republicans smell a famous victory in November. The whisper in Washington is that the 100-member Senate could end up with Republicans having 60 seats. At present, they have 55. On another count too, the mood is upbeat for Clinton's opponents. The Monica case has restored interest in moral issues. Ironically, on this count Clinton is hoist with his own petard. In a bid to undercut the Christian right he appropriated some of their concerns. He advocated the use of censorious V-chips in TV and the internet to protect the young from too much sex and violence; he advised teenagers to look to Gandhian methods of contraception; and he sacked his surgeon-general for mentioning masturbation in a discourse on adolescent health. Now that his morality has been shown to be a farce, the latest Battleground Research poll shows that "restoring moral values" has returned to the top of the American dream's agenda. Last Friday, at a star-studded convention of the Christian Coalition at the Washington Hilton, Speaker Newt Gingrich berated the liberal establishment for driving God out of public life. Damning a contrived secularism, he insisted that "returning the voluntary right of prayer is an integral part of decent America". However, a lame-duck presidency could have a profoundly debilitating effect on America's position in the world. Clinton's was never an imperial presidency. Nor was his international agenda as sharply focused as, say Nixon's or Ronald Reagan's. Only some issues, like non-proliferation, were special to him. Those will remain, but only tangentially. "We are likely to see a phase of minimal, careful, foreign policy," says Rosenfeld, ruing the possibility of a continuing Indo-US stalemate. "America will play with one hand firmly tied." With Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright also grievously wounded following her excessive show of loyalty to the president, America's international relations could end up as a ding-dong battle between the State Department and the Senate foreign relations committee. In concrete terms, this implies a more resolute approach to anti-terrorism, some scepticism on China and confusion over the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). Laments Gautam Adhikari, senior fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy: "The US was an effective force to intervene when things went wrong. That will be impaired." That may not be entirely inimical to Indian interests. A weakened Clinton Administration, feels former foreign secretary J.N. Dixit "will give the US time to reflect on their punitive policy towards India". certainly, domestic preoccupation will force Clinton to review his proposed trip to the subcontinent and ease pressure on Delhi to rush to a conclusion on the CTBT. "With his personal difficulties, such a visit would not be fruitful for Indo-US relations," says the Congress party's foreign affairs spokesman K. Natwar Singh. However, a rise in isolationist impulses is not inevitable. Although playing global policeman never tickled US public opinion for long, it does have an ephemeral attraction, particularly when new monsters like Radovan Karadzic, Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden are created by the media. Hopelessly paralysed domestically, Clinton may find that playing world statesman is the only course open to him to recover lost ground. Last week, he seized upon common fears of a stock market downturn and attempted a coordinated global action on lower interest rates. He was firmly and decisively put in his place by Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan. Clinton will try again in another corner, first cautiously and then, depending on the opinion polls and the progress of the judiciary committee, with a little more daring.Clinton is blessed with incredible chutzpah. Reagan, for example, never entered the Oval Office without a jacket, out of sheer deference to the place; Clinton didn't blink before undoing his trousers. Clinton is a gambler, but he is also a survivor. He survived Vietnam by escaping enlistment; he survived marijuana without inhaling -- puffing, not smoking; he survived Geniffer Flowers and Whitewater; and he may survive Monica by yet proving that you can sin without having sex. Nixon was mocked for his "I am not a crook" claim. he didn't go to Yale and Oxford. But Nixon did the most honourable thing: he resigned. The stigma of Watergate did not rub off on the Republicans. Clinton is different. He is dashing, clever and oozing charisma. Yet honour and decency are lacking from his vocabulary. If he had any self respect or concern for his country, he would have packed his bags and retired to play second-fiddle to the only Clinton who emerged from the crisis with her honour intact -- Hillary. But that is asking too much from "Slick Willie". |
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think Clinton
has the moral authority to continue in office.
The White
House circus is taking up too much time and energy.
