Foreigners See Clinton As Damaged
Filed at 9:25 p.m. EDT
By The Associated Press
LONDON (AP) -- Outside of America, the possibility that President Clinton could be impeached
was greeted Thursday with huge headlines, TV phone-ins, and fears that -- whatever happens -- the
authority of the world's most powerful leader has been fundamentally compromised.
Only a minority of nations with weighty domestic matters on their minds more or less ignored the
turbulence in Washington.
In Russia, where President Boris Yeltsin tussled with political turmoil, the Clinton crisis, the
presidential apologies, the delivery to Congress of 38 boxes of impeachment material didn't even
make most newswires.
Italians, too, were distracted by the death of a top romantic singer, Lucio Battisti, 55, although
''Sexgate,'' as the Italians call it, did make a few front pages. ''Sexgate, Last Act,'' announced the
Turin daily, La Stampa.
Elsewhere, there was a sense of almost disbelief that Clinton's sexual relationships and attempts to
cover them up should have so weakened what many see as a politically successful president.
London's Financial Times headlined its commentary, ''The indignity of it all.''
''A few weeks ago there was no enthusiasm in Congress and the wider political establishment for
the dread process of impeachment,'' said the respected business daily. ''But today, even if not a
likelihood, it has become a political possibility thanks to the president's mishandling of his
explanation.''
Or as Haaretz, a liberal Israeli daily put it, ''The eyes see what the brain refuses to believe.''
''William Jefferson Clinton, whom the Americans consider to be one of the most successful leaders
they have had in decades, is likely to be the first of 42 U.S. presidents to be ousted from office,'' it
added.
In a phone-in on BSkyB television in Britain, individual callers were often sympathetic to Clinton.
''He's only a man after all. He is entitled to make his mistakes,'' said one caller identified as Teresa.
But commentators saw a president irreparably damaged. The Daily Telegraph, a conservative
British daily, said the big problem now was not if Clinton goes, but if he stays.
''He cannot credibly continue when he obstructs justice and tells untruths to the courts,'' the
newspaper said in an editorial. ''His charm and theatrical abilities may see him through for a bit
longer but it is, sadly, to no purpose. He cannot save himself, he can only degrade his office further.''
Yomuiri, Japan's largest mass-circulation daily, said that while any impeachment proceedings were
unlikely before year's end, ''he might be forced to resign without waiting for formal impeachment
proceedings.''
Even before Thursday's damaging leaks of the report by independent counsel Kenneth Starr, British
tabloids gave Clinton scant chance of survival. ''Clinton: The Last Hours,'' said the mass-circulation
Sun.
In Israel, a strong woman stood behind him -- Leah Rabin, widow of Yitzhak Rabin, the prime
minister assassinated in 1995.
''Denying love affairs. ... A man who is caught doing that, when they ask him in front of the nation
and in front of this wife, of course he'll deny that,'' she told Israel's TV Channel One.
''He didn't lie to us, to the Israelis. Never,'' she said. |
