New York SIgn Language

New Yorkers Support 'Inappropriate' Clinton

By BOB YAMPOLSKY

Last month I was sitting in a barbershop having my hair cut. Actually, it wasn't a barbershop but a hair salon. Sitting next to me was a woman about 70 years old, who was getting a perm.

She was talking to her hairdresser about the events surrounding President Clinton. She spoke properly in a tone of measured outrage. She was, at first glance, the sort of woman whom you might expect to be outraged at our president's crude behavior. But what she said was this:

"It is so ridiculous. It was an entirely personal matter, between two consenting adults. How can they impeach a president for something like this?"

Across New York, when people are asked the question that our sign for the month poses — "Should Clinton Be Impeached?" — the answer that comes back is "No."

Let me give a brief explanation of our president's predicament.

In 1994, an independent prosecutor named Kenneth Starr was appointed to investigate possible criminal doings in connection with Whitewater — a real estate deal in which the Clintons were involved. Over the next four years the investigation expanded into a number of other matters, but no evidence of criminal acts by the president was found.

Then, in January of this year, Clinton testified, under oath, in the sexual harassment suit brought against him by Paula Jones. This suit was soon dismissed by the presiding judge, who ruled that even if Clinton had done everything that Jones accused him of, it was not a case of sexual harassment — just a matter of Clinton being a pig. This should have been the end of Clinton's troubles, but in his testimony, when he was asked whether he had had a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky, he said he had not.

Starr, however, had evidence to the contrary — namely, 20 hours of taped conversations between Lewinsky and an erstwhile friend, in which Lewinsky described in great detail her relationship with the president.

Kenneth Starr spent the next seven months tracking down every last detail of the relationship between Clinton and Lewinsky, and of what Clinton did to keep this affair secret.

Last month Starr delivered to the House of Representatives a shocking, detailed report (which the statesmen of the House promptly made public), which put forth the case for impeachment — namely, that the president committed perjury and tried to obstruct justice.

A little constitutional background: Impeachment is essentially the same as being charged with a crime — in this case, as the Constitution says, "high crimes and misdemeanors." To impeach or not is a decision that the House of Representatives makes. If a president is impeached, the Senate then decides if he is guilty or not. A two-thirds vote is needed to convict the president and remove him from office.

A little political background: Clinton is a Democrat; the Republicans control Congress.

New York — in particular, Manhattan — is perhaps the most Democratic part of the country. It was, in fact, to Manhattan that Clinton came the day after Starr delivered his report, and he was welcomed warmly. (He came to see a production of the play "The Lion King," which of course led to jokes about "The Lyin' King.") And while support for Clinton is strong throughout the country, it is strongest in New York: The latest polls show that over 75 percent of New Yorkers support the president.

On Broadway, a couple blocks from my apartment, a fringe party sets up a table every day, with signs saying, "The Crisis is not in Clinton's Pants" and "Impeach Ken Starr." Pass by and the fellow manning the table calls out, "So do you think Ken Starr should be arrested or just tortured?"

Dave, a lifelong New Yorker, says, "Listen. I knew Clinton was a liar, and I knew he liked to play around with women, and I still voted for him. Why should I change my mind about him now?"

Says a woman in a drugstore: "Well, you know, he likes the ladies, so what can you do? But do you think that Hillary will divorce him, poor thing?"

A man on the bus: "Come on, what did he do? He played around, he lied about it. What's the big deal?"

Says Judith: "If he were an army officer or a high school president, he would have lost his job in a second. So this double standard bothers me. Plus, talk about lack of judgment! And even worse, lack of taste! This Monica — what a manipulative, whiny airhead! And you know how their affair started? She flashed him her underpants! My God! But should Bill go? No way. He's done a decent job. This and that are different things."

Support, it turns out, is very different from admiration.

Shukan ST: Oct. 30, 1998

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