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Feric -> RE: Monica Lewinsky (1/15/2008 12:23:28 PM)
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The real tragedy about the Lewinsky scandal is that in the end, it was much ado about nothing. Some people are attracted to power, and those who are in power are going to abuse it; that's human nature.
You can't name ten people in the present day or in the past--especially presidents--who weren't touched by scandal of one sort or another. Government in its very nature invites corruption, and humans are tragically flawed. On top of which, presidents have a long history of diddling: FDR had an affair, Warren G. Harding kept a mistress on the side, Grover Cleveland fathered a child out of wedlock, the list goes on and on.
So Clinton got caught lying. Big deal! Accusing a politician of lying is like accusing a horse of not being toilet trained! I do not apologize for the president. I do not excuse his indiscretions. But what did the whole Lewisnky affair net America? Endless air-time; posturing, self-aggrandizing politicians; embarassment on an international scale; and a foregone conclusioned impeachment vote along party lines.
And what did Clinton do for America? Under Bill Clinton's administration, we witnessed the American brokered Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty, NAFTA, GATT, the Brady Bill, deficit reduction legislation, a booming economy, toxic waste cleanup, the 1998 Rome Treaty, and the solidification of the Iraq No-fly Zone containment policy.
American author Stephen Donaldson once wrote that the best leaders in the world are guilty ones, because the use of power guarantees guilt. Through guilt, one is driven to good works in an attempt to cleanse one's path. Was Clinton guilty? Sure. But no one, especially a politician, is without sin. Anyone who says different is selling something.
As a final note, I read the Flynt Report. The biggest proponents of the Lewinsky scandal were guilty of extra-marital affairs themselves; and all the while, America's less stuck-up international neighbors shook their heads at the Puritanical ravings and went on about their business.
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