Rajpal's Column

23rd August 1998

Clinton ends American charade

By Rajpal Abeynayake

Though even we Sri Lankans may have had a surfeit of hearing about Bill Clinton, it is surprising, at least some of the things we hear about him these days. One announcer on a Sinhala television programme, spoke of Bill Clinton's confession last week as an "example."

"At least he had the humility to admit his mistakes," said the screen pundit.

To use the Americanism to describe this typically American situation, its "like hell that Bill Clinton admitted to his mistakes."

Yes, he admitted to misleading the American people, but that was only because by last week he had got caught red handed, and with his pants at his feet. .

The confession was Clinton's only option, and that is a fact that the television announcer who held out Clinton as an example should have known.

So what's new, one may ask. Most American leaders have been liars. The American political system is disgracefully hypocritical, and duplicity is part of the basic equipment of the American leader. The difference here is that Bill Clinton has hit the nadir this time around. Clinton is now a confessed liar, a confessed untrustworthy man who is the incumbent American President.

Even British newspapers, which usually treat Clinton with kid gloves, have stated editorially that Bill Clinton has lost his moral authority to be the President of the United States of America.

We Sri Lankans of course would only have a spectator interest in US politics. Bill Clinton can be an adulterer, or he can be a rapist for all we care. That's America's problem, and given the American psyche of today, they would have Bill Clinton as President today even if he was a rapist.

But the implications to countries like ours begin when Bill Clinton starts to act out his role as the Police Superintendent of the world. When Bill Clinton starts being sanctimonious about issues like human rights, or about issues like weapons inspection, now the world would have every right to say that he is a sanctimonious humbug. That's not to say that this is news to us. Yes, we in these parts always knew that Bill Clinton, like most American leaders before him, was a sanctimonious humbug. But now we know that, on his own admission, he is a humbug, and to that extent Bill Clinton has lifted the veil of pretence.

Bill Clinton has ordered attacks in Sudan and Afghanistan on the same day that Monica Lewinsky, Clinton's estranged mistress, testified for the second time before a grand jury. By way of explanation, Clinton claims that the missile attacks on locations in Sudan and Afghanistan are in retaliation for the cowardly bombings of American embassies in Tanzania and in the Nigerian capital.

But this is from the same man who wore a tie that was gifted to him by Monica Lewinsky on the day that she first testified before the American grand jury headed by prosecutor Ken Starr. Apparently, he wanted to mollify his ex moll by wearing the tie, and it didn't appear to be coincidence. So if Bill Clinton can be so blatant as to influence a grand jury witness by remote control, could world watchers put down the bombing of Sudan on the day of the second hearing to mere coincidence?

Even if it was coincidence, it echoed loudly the principle held by the British editorialists who said that "Bill Clinton has lost the moral authority to be the President of America."

The problem now is that each time Clinton does something like order an attack on enemy territory, he would be suspect of using the situation to divert attention from his own troubles at home. What's sad about it therefore is that he continues to be the President of America, despite the fact that his credibility has been damaged beyond repair.

But Bill Clinton has done American detractors at least one favour. He has for once, admitted to the true nature of what passes off usually as the avuncular leadership of Uncle Sam. Clinton has shown that Uncle Sam is a humbug and a dirty old man, and to that extent, he has certainly left his mark on history.

To get to specifics, all right thinking and reasonable men would condemn the cowardly attack on the United States embassies in Tanzania and Nigeria in which many civilians both American and African were killed. This was naked terrorism of the sort that Americans usually engage in. By resorting to this sort of aggression, the enemies of Bill Clinton were playing into American hands.

It is the United States which is usually the aggressor, which has ordered assassinations against world leaders ranging from Gaddhafi to Fidel Castro. US missile hits in the Gulf during the last war killed a large number of civilians despite the US boast about smart bombs, and Bill Clinton was about to repeat his brand of aggression against Iraq before Kofi Annan saved the situation in the nick of time by negotiating an accord with Saddam Hussein.

Now Americans are apparently saying in polls that they would tolerate Bill Clinton despite the substantial blots on his integrity. This exposes completely the moral depths to which the collective American psyche has plunged.

Inevitably this will be read as an indictment on the integrity of the American people, but, what we are saying is NOT that all Americans are ugly at the core. What has happened is that the amoral leadership of America has spawned a culture of materialism in which the American people would literally condone murder as long as they are economically well off. In that way America is truly a secular godless nation, though American currency notes say "In God we Trust."

If this was Jimmy Carter's era and not Bill Clinton's, and the economy was in 'malaise,' Americans would have dumped the President before you could say Monica Lewinsky. But the times are good in America. The bucks keep coming, so who cares where the buck stops?

But it appears that the nudity of America is complete. Catherine Denueve, the actress, has said that "America makes most of the pornographic movies on earth, and yet people are worried about the President having an affair." No. People are not worried that the President is having an affair. They are merely revelling in the pornography of it.

Hats off to America for tolerating pornography. Its certainly better than tolerating a confessed perjurer as a President.

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