Michelle,
>As a libertarian dont you feel Starr has gone too far - WAY WAY too far?
I consider myself as mostly libertarian too, but I don't think he's gone too far.
I think the reason that Bill Clinton is still in office is that a lot of people think this is a private issue. They say, we don't have the right to pry into his private life. And if he gave an untruthful answer, it's okay because the question should not have been asked. Let me try to say why I disagree and do not think this is a private issue:
1) The question was asked in a court case. It's not just like one day at a press conference about child care or the minimum wage or something, Sam Donaldson shouts, "Mr. President, did you have sex with Monica Lewinsky?" and the president replies "No," and then some right wingers hire Linda Tripp to tape Monica, and so on...
There was a court case here.
You can make the argument (albeit a weak one) that, even in a sexual harrassment suit, it is improper to ask the defendant about other sexual escapades he has had in the workplace.
You can even make the argument that, since the Jones suit was dismissed, there should be no more question of perjury.
But it's not as if one day out of the blue someone asked Clinton about his sex life and the antichrist Ken Starr has been hounding him ever since.
That's why I think that altough the question asked was relevant. It was asked in a public setting (the criminal justice system).
2) He had sex with a subordinate worker. I don't think there can be any other combination as unequal as leader of the free world, and intern. This in itself makes the issue a public issue. I sure you've heard all the analogies by now - college professor/student, CEO/intern,... - and all these relationships , although are between private individuals, have an unequal power balance in a social arena.
3) They did it in the Oval Office - a public place. If he wanted it to be private, do it somewhere else. Not at work. Some people might say, "Where do you expect him to go - a cheap motel?" Well, I think you give up some of that privacy when you become the president of the US. Reagan wouldn't even go into the oval office without a fresh suit on.
Comments?
Permission to speak freely - I think Clinton has pissed all over the Presidency and the Oval Office. |
