SUNS  4138  Tuesday  27  January  1998


United States: Clinton at the Crossroads



Washington, Jan 25 (IPS/Michael Keats ) - The tumult over the conduct and credibility of President Bill Clinton, which has swept aside all other news in the United States, probably is best summed up by his former senior adviser David Gergen.

"This is either the greatest act of self-destruction by any president in the 20th century, or it is the greatest smear of any President in the modern era," he declared.

The nation has not seen such a feeding frenzy among politicians and the media since the days of Watergate, when what appeared a minor burglary ended in the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

Since the scandal over Clinton broke Jan 21, Americans - and the world - have been treated to non-stop revelations, allegations and speculations on the president - even while public opinion polls
indicate his approval ratings remain the highest of any occupant of the White House for years. But they have dropped 10 points.

Clinton's problems stem from Monica Lewinsky, a 24-year-old former White House intern, who has said on secretly-recorded tapes that she had an 18-month sexual affair with Clinton and that he told her to deny it, even under oath, if necessary.

Everything else concerned with administrations workings, have been pushed to the sidelines. For example, White House Press Secretary Michael McCurry began his daily briefing Friday with a long report of Clinton's cabinet meeting that day and details of a proposal for more pension benefits for U.S. citizens.

Barely one reporter moved his pen, and there were no questions on national or international affairs before the questions began about what the president was going to do about the furore over his conduct.

"What we're trying to do, is assemble the factual record," so the president can be armed for questions when he finally addresses the affair. "You have to prove a negative, and that's hard in this
environment."

Clinton is scheduled to deliver a State of the Union address Tuesday and withdrew plans to address the scandal concerning Lewinsky before he goes before the nation.

The same day Lewinsky has been called to appear with or without immunity before a federal grand jury investigating a wide range of charges against Clinton. Lewinsky gave a sworn affidavit in the case involving Paula Jones, in another case involving Clinton's alleged sexual misconduct when he was Governor of Arkansas.

Lewinsky, who was 21 when she began working in the White House declared under oath that she never had a sexual relationship with Clinton and had "the utmost respect for the President , who always behaved appropriately in my presence."

If she lied at Clinton's behest, and thereby he obstructed justice, is what is described in the U.S. constitution as "high crimes and misdemeanours" and could lead to his impeachment.

To the foreign observer, all this may seem inconsequential compared to more pressing international affairs involving the leader of the most powerful nation on Earth. The fact that Clinton and his senior national security advisers are considering a military strike against Iraq is brushed aside in TV and Radio newscasts, and is buried in "other" events in most newspapers.

Never one to miss a political advantage, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who has continually interfered with the work of U.N. weapons inspectors, has been quoted here as saying any attack on Baghdad would be an attempt to distract the world from the Clinton scandal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat came and went from Washington little noticed - despite Clinton's best efforts to push them back on track in carrying out the Middle East peace accords.

Pope John Paul II's historic visit to Cuba, which was widely believed could signal changes in Washington-Havana hostility, went the way of the Middle east talks - virtually ignored within the United States. Instead, the media provided saturation coverage of the "Clinton affair."

The fact that politics and sex can so affect the leadership of the ofree world` is given an added twist in that U.S. feminist groups, long in the forefront of the fight for women's rights, have stayed unusually quiet. Women have been credited with Clinton's last election victory - 54 percent choosing him compared to the 38 percent of women who voted for his Republican opponent Bob Dole.

The National Organisation for Women said it had no comment on the charges against Clinton, who is regarded as a champion of women's rights. The leader of the National Women's Political Caucus Anita Perez Ferguson too had a "wait-and-see" attitude.
"The allegations are tremendously disturbing," she said. "The legal process itself is the thing that's going to tell us which way it is going to go."

The First Lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton, while making no public statement has rallied to the defence of her husband- as she has done previously when the president has been accused of infidelity. "Mrs
Clinton is showing the colours, and we're rallying around the flag," said James Carville, a veteran Clinton aide.

Clinton's wife also is appearing on a television news program Tuesday morning - before the President's State of the Union address.

"She's a lawyer and understands the danger of getting out there too early without facts to meet the ferocious demand...she knows's what she's doing," said a White House source.

The next few days should show if this is true.