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Clinton's Sweet Deal
In a few hours, Bill Clinton will no longer be the President of the United States. I expected there to be news stories about the end of his eight year administration and analysis about whatever good he might have done during his two terms. But the last thing I expected to see is the quiet little deal he's made, behind the scenes, to help pretend the Monica Lewinsky scandal never happened.
We all know he lied to the grand jury, and to everyone with a tv, about having had sex with her. We all know he squirmed and wriggled his way out of trouble, how he somehow managed to survive impeachment, how he somehow convinced a nation that he and Hillary are the poster kids for happy marriage. But what he's doing now is something that probably few people will ever know about, or care about either.
Clinton has agreed to a deal that will see him walk away from a potential grand jury indictment for perjury and obstruction of justice. In return for being completely absolved of the crime he committed, he has agreed to have his Arkansas law licence suspended for five years. Despite the fact that he lied on the stand and intentionally obstructed justice - for which you or I would be in jail right now - the whole thing will be quietly brushed under the carpet.
As part of the agreement, Clinton will produce a written statement acknowledging that "he may have made misleading statements in his sworn testimony in the Lewinsky matter." Considering that Arkansas was about to revoke his law licence completely, this little deal seems sweet in comparison.
The thing that disturbs me most about this is how willing, how eager, the rest of the country is to let this guy off the hook. News reports on the subject declare "The deal spares the country the prospect of seeing one of its former chief executives put on criminal trial. In recent days, even Republicans who had long criticized Clinton had urged there be no such trial."
Even Republican Orrin Hatch of Utah, leader of the Senate Judiciary Committee, suggested that President-elect Bush should pardon Clinton to "end a problem in America that needs to be ended."
As I suspected, Bush replied "I think it's time to get all of this business behind us'' and let Clinton "move on and enjoy life and become an active participant in the American system."
Everyone's in love with this guy, apparently. Why else would so many people be so willing to look the other way, no matter what he does?
Because no one bats an eye at what caused him to be on that stand in the first place.
There isn't a politician alive who thinks what Clinton did with Lewinsky was a big deal. Adultery, promiscuity, adolescent sexual behaviour, none of it is worthy of even a moment's indignation to these people. Even his wife doesn't care; as long as being married to him gets her a senate seat - and it did - she'll keep that ring on her finger and that smile on her face.
The American people certainly don't care about his teenage hijinks in the oval office - his popularity rating soared after the scandal finally calmed down. And so if politicians, the general public, and even the woman he's married to shrug off the sexual games he plays when he's supposed to be working, is it any wonder that the whole issue disappears quietly?
I don't care so much about what happens to an idiot like Bill Clinton. What bothers me is that our standards have sunk so low, our values have disintegrated so much, that we merely laugh when we learn about a married president inserting cigars into young interns and receiving blowjobs in the doorway of the oval office.
Libertarians like talk show host Bill Maher behave as though Clinton should be bronzed, some sort of anti-hero for the anti-value set, and claim that all this fuss was unneccessary - he got a blowjob, so what? Nevermind that this happened in the oval office, nevermind that that he holds the most respected post in the land, nevermind that many of his predecessors were noble and decent men who at least respected the office enough to confine their personal lives to their personal lives - the answer to that "so what" is that thanks to Clinton, breaking your wedding vows and behaving like a horny teenager nows earns you the respect of a nation and complete prosecutorial immunity for the lies you tell to cover up your actions.
Why anyone respects this man enough to give him a free ride is beyond me. I hate to think that it's because so many upright politicians have interns of their own now that no one even thinks they're doing anything wrong anymore. I hate to think it's because we've become so jaded about marriage that we expect adultery and yawn at sexual misconduct. But it's the only explanation I can find.
Defenders of Clinton maintain that a man's sexual behaviour has no bearing on the rest of his character. I say that there is no more accurate indication of a man's character than his attitude towards sex, his treatment of women, his behaviour as a husband and the respect or disrespect he shows his wife.
Show me a man who's married to a woman he loves and who views sex with her as a wonderful thing that he wouldn't want to share with anyone else, and I'll show you a man of character and heroic spirit. Show me a man who puts cigars up young girls and gets blowjobs while on the phone to foreign leaders, and I'll show you a stunted little boy who can't believe he's gotten away with it. Which man would you rather look up to? Whose hand would you rather have resting next to the bomb button?
Luckily, Clinton's days in the oval office are over. But this sweet deal of his is like one last jab, one last stab at the values of the nation he inherited. I'm sure he's laughing all the way out the door.
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