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Commentary
President Clinton and the Starr Report
This article was published in the Orange County Register, Commentary Section, on
Sunday, September 13, 1998.
My views on the recent release of the Starr report to Congress:
First, I believe the Congress should have had the common decency to give the President a copy of the report BEFORE it is released to the public. We have a judicial system and a legal system that allows people to know the accusations against them. While this recent report is not the same as a court case, I think the people's views need to be represented by our elected officials in Congress. Many people simply expect that certain principles of fairness and justice should be followed � whether or not the Constitution requires them. I have asked my elected representatives to do the right thing and treat the President with respect, just as they wish to be treated with respect.
Second, WE THE PEOPLE elected Mr. President and we want him to continue the excellent job he has done so far. Whatever mistakes he has made do not seem to affect his ability to do his job. We did not elect him because he was a saint � we elected him in spite of the fact that we knew he was not a saint! He is a human being doing an extraordinary job in spite of constant obstacles. We do not want Congress or the media to do anything to distract him from continuing to lead our country.
Third, the President is a human being with the faults and failings of all humans. No member of Congress, the media or the public should consider themselves perfect enough to judge him on his personal beliefs or personal actions. I know this is very hard for many people, because many of us have different views than he does on some things, including myself. I don't agree with many of his views or his programs. However, in spite of those differences, we need to be civil enough to allow him and others to have different views without crucifying them.
If history is accurate, the last "perfect" human that walked on the earth was crucified by people who did not understand him. It was only many centuries later that the world began to understand his message. I ask people to use that metaphor for seeing the larger picture of what is happening. Don't get focused on the small petty issues that can destroy a great time in our history. I did not vote for Mr. Clinton the first time he ran and I am not a registered Democrat. I did vote for him the 2nd time he ran because I saw what a great job he had done his first term. I firmly believe that the political divisions that exist in our country can be brought together for the good of all of us, something that this President has been trying to accomplish for his entire term in office.
Sincerely,
Barbara Taylor
Silverado, CA 92676
From
a 15-year-old (reprinted with the author's permission)
posted September 13, 1998:
Permission to reprint: "OK,
here's the deal. You may publish my little essay, but I want the entire thing published,
not merely quotes or sections. With it, I want you to state that it was written by Josh
Steinberg, and also post this email address (VertigoMan [at] aol.com)
for people to contact me. Also, a little statement like "The author of this essay
does not necessarily agree with or support any of the information or opinions of the
people or information associated with this website". Finally, I would appreciate a
link to my own website being published. (http://members.aol.com/VertigoMan)."
Thanks, Josh
---------------------
"I made a post to a newsgroup/message board about my thoughts on
the Clinton scandal... just thought you might be interested in my opinions... the
following text is my entire post, word for word."
Josh
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
C'mon now... we *all* knew Clinton did it the second we heard about it. Nobody had any
doubts at all. Kenneth Starr was on a political witch hunt, and when he couldn't find
anything on Whitewater, he used illegal tape recordings to pursue the President's personal
life.
The President's first reaction was not to admit to this relationship. I think he knew from
the very beginning that it was "wrong", but like a teenager, his hormones got
the better of him... each time. By the time the story broke, he was done with her and
wished it would go away, and tried to keep it from becoming a major story. Besides, if you
cheated on your spouse, and someone asked you, would you tell the truth to the whole
world? Probably not. And I don't think that just because he cheated on his wife means that
he's gonna cheat on his country. Of course, if he wakes up one morning and decides to
balance the Russian, Chinese, and Japanese budgets instead of ours, I'll be wrong then,
but until that point in time, just because he commits some acts which may
offend the
majority of the country's morals, does not mean that he is incapable of holding the
office. We knew about his affairs when we reelected him. We chose Clinton again because we
trust him to run this country. He's the first person in years who hasn't abused his power
to commit absolutely evil acts. For instance, when Lyndon Johnson was VP, he helped in the
plot to assassinate Kennedy to keep the Vietnam war going, for the sake of helping US
companies sell arms. Nixon used his power to break into his opponents' offices, and have
documents stolen and used against them, and then to cover up the crimes. Gerald Ford
pardoned Nixon... bad enough. Jimmy Carter was dismal in his attempts in the Middle East
for the most part, although that wasn't necessarily an evil act. Reagan was absolutely
vile, using his staff to sell illegal arms to our enemies for money, and allowing the
government to bring illegal drugs into the country to sell on the streets. Bush was
involved in that shaky Iraqi conflict. Clinton got a blow job and didn't tell everyone.
He did, however, create a plan to balance the budget, put in some much needed reforms,
went to Africa and China, stopped another Iraqi conflict, and helped with a peace
agreement in Northern Ireland. I know that in France, when the prime minister died, at his
funeral in the front row sat his children, his wife, and his mistress, and no one said a
word. No one cared. Princess Di had an affair, yet the public continued to love her until
and after her tragic death. JFK had numerous affairs, yet he remains the Camelot Lost
myth. FDR was quite a womanizer too. Yet we love and honor all of these people. Even our
favorite movie stars and rock singers act like this, yet we still buy their records and
see their films. My favorite singer is perhaps Billy Joel, and people who have known him
tell me that in person he's an asshole. That may be true, but I don't know him and never
will; his music, his professional work, means something to me. And that's where my
interest ends. I wish him the best in life, and I thank him for the gift of his music, but
I don't give a crap who he sleeps with. I don't like Clinton any less as a politician and
President because of his actions. I think less of him as a person, but I didn't help
campaign for him, I didn't support him because I wanted him to be my best friend. I did
that because I thought he was the most qualified man for the job.
What I do find inexcusable is that Kenneth Starr has spent $40 million of our money trying
to crucify Clinton. Think of how many homeless people could have been taken off the street
with that money. Think of how many families could be supported on that. Think of how many
medical bills could be paid, or how much food could be bought. Instead, it's spent on
trying to kick a good, hardworking President out of office. I'm sorry, but Starr's morals
bother me more than Clinton's. What Clinton does is his business, and quite frankly, I
don't want to know about it, and I'm sick of hearing about it on my TV. I wish they'd stop
interrupting everything with special reports, because I was quite happy sitting on the
couch watching Seinfeld.
Of course, I'm only a 15 year old boy, so what would I know? According to the laws of this
government, that means I'm basically an idiot without rights, freedom of speech, and dumb.
But if anyone would like to comment to me about my comments, please email me privately, as
I am not planning to post here again, or read further posts.
Thanks for listening. Have a pleasant weekend.
Josh
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