Puzzled World Sees Clinton Scandal as Sordid, Pitiful
Reuters
LONDON (Sept. 12) - For a fascinated international community, the explicit
sexual exploits of the world's most powerful man were seen on Saturday as a
bemusing and sordid twilight of an American century.
In France, where many politicians consider the phrase ''sex scandal'' a
contradiction in terms, the media passed scathing judgment on the United
States.
An air of incredulity, mixed with fascination for President Bill Clinton's
sexual past and political future, was reflected in front-page coverage of the
report by independent prosecutor Kenneth Starr laying out intimate details of
the president's trysts with Monica Lewinsky.
The report's prompt publication on the Internet also provoked surprise in
France, where politicians' sex lives are a private affair and senior leaders
have long enjoyed an informal immunity from the legal troubles Clinton faces.
''Hell is American,'' the leading French daily Le Monde wrote on Saturday.
In an editorial ringing with stupefaction, le Monde described Starr's report
as a ''monster...worthy of the reports of the Inquisition...where deviants and
heretics were hunted down to the depths of their souls.
''By the magic of the Internet, the four corners of our universe were turned
into a planetary audience and we all became Peeping Toms by the choice of the
American Congress.
''After four years of investigations at a mind-boggling cost, prosecutor Starr
has found nothing but the pitiful lie of a seducer,'' it said.
Le Monde accused Starr of trying to impose ''a terrifying moral order where
sex is never far from sin, where even sexual relations between consenting
adults is always something terrible.''
The daily described the mood in Washington as ''a new McCarthyism, which has
replaced the panicky fear of communism with the dread of sexuality.''
The left-wing Liberation wrote: ''Monicagate is a surrealist vaudeville
because it telescopes two previously separate universes of sexual intimacy and
the constitutional orders -- affairs of the flesh and of state wind up under
the sheets.''
The conservative Le Figaro ran a damning editorial, entitled ''Gulliver
Trapped,'' in which it slammed Clinton for the damage done to the world's last
superpower.
''Bill Clinton's escapades have created a new world order!'' it wrote. ''Ten
years after crushing communism, the power of the United States collapses
before that of the Internet.
''American influence on events on this plant seems reduced to nothing...the
White House is nothing more than an empty shell now.''
In Germany, too, where politicians' indiscretions are often seen as
irrelevant, there was a damning tone to commentaries.
''Clinton is a president who has been caught with his trousers down,'' said
the highbrow Frankfurter Allgemeine. ''A skirt-chaser is not a good occupant
for the White House.''
Swiss newspapers were shocked that Starr's report should be disclosed on an
Internet Website.
Saturday's Geneva daily ''Le Temps'' showed a cartoon of Clinton sitting at
his desk in the Oval Office, with an arrow pointing to the president labeled,
Internet-style, ''Click here to remove from office.''
The daily Basler Zeitung said the Starr report appeared to be merely
establishing a democratic right to voyeurism.
''Never before in the history of superpower politics has a president been so
exposed. And never before has the United States had at its helm a man who has
been so mercilessly offered up for scorn,'' it said.
In Britain, the right-wing Sun tabloid thundered: ''The lying fornicator must
go'' and in a vituperative editorial it called Clinton a ''cheap and nasty
guttersnipe'' unfit to be president.
The liberal Guardian took a softer line, saying Clinton's ''stupid, infantile,
pathetic, caddish, laddish'' behavior did not warrant impeachment.
Beirut's authoritative an-Nahar newspaper ran an editorial on its front page
saying Clinton was ''lost.''
''He (Clinton) is lost and he lost the opportunity of a lifetime. He lost the
last independent presidency of the greatest country. He lost the revolution
that the United States needed and he lost the historic role of heroism,'' it
declared.
Belgium's Le Soir said the scandal was a sad end to the 20th century.
''There must be a new Freud to talk about the 'malaise of civilization' that
strikes the United States. Alas, the only word that comes to mind today is
'pitiful','' it said.
The Times of India headlined its editorial ''Morality Play'' and said Clinton
was paying the price of being a mere human.
''Ultimately, President Clinton's unpardonable offence may prove to be not
monstrous turpitude but common humanity. If in the end he is sacrificed on the
altar of America's hubris his impeachment will be a ritual exorcism, a
cathartic auto-da-fe for the heresy of being a mere flesh and blood mortal.''
REUTERS Reut08:00 09-12-98
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or
redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is
expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters
shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any
actions taken in reliance thereon. All active hyperlinks have been inserted
by AOL.
|
