Saturday, March 21, 1998

Throwing in the towel on Clinton

By Donald Kaul

"We love him for the enemies he has made."

That was said by Gen. Edward Bragg in nominating Grover Cleveland for the presidency in 1884. It could as easily be said today of Bill Clinton.

Which is good, because there is precious little else to love about the man.

I have been accused of being a defender of Clinton. I am not. I have merely pointed out, from time to time, that the criticism he has received for his personal life has seemed to me excessive, if not hysterical. I thought Gennifer Flowers was mainly something for Clinton and his wife to thrash out. If Hillary could live with it, so could I.

Paula Jones? A sordid little story, but they were alone in the room together. Who can say what really happened? Anyway, at the very worst, he took no for an answer -- not an impeachable offense.

The Monica Lewinsky story was a little more disquieting: a powerful middle-aged man preying upon a star-struck youngster in his employ. What kind of hambone does something like that? Still, it wasn't as though she was underage or anything and, whatever happened, she didn't seem to mind too much. And they were, of course, alone in the room, etc. I was willing to let it pass.

(You'll notice I never once assumed him to be innocent -- of anything. In this, as in most matters, I preferred to be agnostic. It was either that or throw in with the Cromwellian jackboots who seek to bring him down and make this nation a Christian theocracy.)

With the appearance of Kathleen Willey on "60 Minutes," however, sticking up for him has become heavy going.

I found Willey to be an absolutely devastating witness against the president. It's one thing to read of the charges she made against him, quite another to be confronted by her telling the story. If she is to be believed, she went to the president for help in an hour of desperate need, and he responded by feeling her up, then suggesting something more could be arranged.

If that is truly what happened -- and she is very persuasive -- then I give up. The man is a swine, a sex-obsessed lout who deserves what he gets, whatever that happens to be. I'm willing to take my chances with the Roundheads.

He denies it happened, of course. He always denies everything. He put his minions on the case, and they immediately produced correspondence indicating Willey maintained a friendly attitude toward the president long after the incident. They argue she seeks to make a profit from her story.

None of which, it seems to me, impeaches her credibility. Why wouldn't she try to remain on the good side of the president, even after the alleged groping? She was a widow with limited job skills. Her "friendship" with the president was one of the few assets she had to trade on. And if she can make a buck out of her story, more power to her. Enough of Clinton's friends have lost their shirts because of him.

Each of the president's denials is, in itself, plausible. Taken together, however, the accusations begin to outweigh the denials. Can a man be falsely accused of being a cad by every woman he meets?

Probably not. Still, Clinton is not the first "womanizer" to occupy the White House, nor the second or third.

The above-mentioned Grover Cleveland, to name just one, sought the White House while a bachelor and admitted fathering an illegitimate son. His political enemies did not let this go unnoticed. A Buffalo preacher named Ball called Cleveland, a Democrat, "an artful seducer, a foe to virtue, an enemy of the family, a snare to youth and hostile to true womanhood.

"Women now married and anxious to cover the sins of their youth have been his victims and are now alarmed lest their relations with him shall be exposed. The issue is not between the two great parties but between the brothel and the family, between decency and indecency, between lust and law."

Sounds sort of like Jerry Falwell, doesn't he? No matter, Cleveland won the election, after which he married his ward, a young woman about Monica Lewinsky's age and the daughter of his deceased law partner. Historians say it was the most popular thing Cleveland was to accomplish in either of his terms in office.

Clinton should be so lucky.

E-mail Donald Kaul at otcoffee@aol.com or write to him c/o Tribune Media Services. Inc., 435 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1400, Chicago, IL 60611.