My $.02 on the Lewinsky thing

Last night I watched the news just after the release of the videotape that showed Clinton being cross-examined about the Lewinsky affair. They were asking people about their reactions to the tape, but most people said they had no interest in watching it. Even people who were a bored, captive audience, jogging on a treadmill while it was being shown, preferred to hum to themselves rather than listen to the evidence. People were having none of it.

Could it be that for the first time, America has averted its eyes from a sick Media spectacle? If Watergate shattered our innocence, Monicagate shamed us and made us blush. To our credit, we didn't want to hear the details. We are finally embarrassed about how pathetic we are to the rest of the world.

But there are just a few remaining questions that haven' t been asked.
  1. Where were these bloated Inquisitors during the Iran Contra thing? Why doesn't Bill just say he doesn't remember what happened with Monica?--it worked for Reagan! And those transgressions were actually evil instead of merely crass.

  2. Everyone in the White House knows full well that Monica gave Bill a blowjob, that he has been fooling around with various women and girls for 20 years. And, Hillary is not a stupid person. So, what's her deal? They must have some sort of agreement. One could conjecture that they stay married out of mutual convenience: Clinton needs a wife to look like a stable, married person, and Hillary needs to be married to the president to borrow some of his power.

    So let's assume for a moment that they do have an agreement, some sort of open relationship. Given that Clinton was screwed no matter what he did, did he really have anything to lose by telling the public about it? At least he could have exonerated himself of the crime of betraying his wife.

    But no, I am beginning to believe that questioning the COMMANDMENT OF LIFELONG MONOGAMY is the greatest taboo in American culture. You can get away with draft-dodging and joint-toking, but a realistic, mature, open relationship? Unthinkable! Political suicide!

    In other words, adultery is condoned as long as you lie about it!

    Clinton proclaimed: I have sinned. I want to know, against whom? Hillary? God? the people? the law--hey--is adultery still against the law? What ever happened to the separation of church (morality) and state?

    If Clinton was lying to his wife, I find that abhorrent, and I'm surprised at how stupid she is. But we the people are willing to overlook that lie, seeing it as a lesser evil than the humiliation of America, the exposure of little children to sordid sexual discussion on the news, and the waste of taxpayer money and time.

    Me, I only wish the fiasco could have opened up the discussion of the real issues: if attraction to others outside marriage is inevitable, why can't we just have open, honest communication instead of betrayal and deceit? Why are our politicians still required to be married (and Protestant)? What would happen if Hillary, or Barbara Boxer, was caught having an affair with a young boy? Has our society really transcended sexism, as we are told, when smart women like Hillary must still marry to gain power? How can we transcend this sad society, where the young and nubile endure the advances of the bloated and florid, for the sake of power?

    In light of this scandal, men turn to each other as if to say, see, we must protect the sacred right of the alpha male to use women and girls as he sees fit. People joke about the past presidents' adulteries as if wishing for a return to the good old days when these sordid affairs were seen as normal and admirable. But I for one would like to see a true sexual revolution, where people seek mutual bliss and erotic expression; not a free-for-all for the powerful to swell their pompous egos even further.

    October, 1998