Question Details	Asked By	Asked On
Why is/was President Clinton scorned so?	paulcporter	11/03/03
How were President Clinton's ethical/moral failings worse than those of any other president/politician? Mr. Clinton was the first president in my adult life, so I haven't much memory or Regan/Carter/Ford/Nixon, but I never understood why the man seemed to have so much venom directed at him. What was it about his ethical/moral failings in comparision to those of other presidents that cause people to hate him so? Yes, he was a womanizer, and he lied about it, but in my mind he did a lot of good for the country. If one examines the current president, one sees the same flaws: someone who dodged service in Vietnam; used drugs and avoids discussing it; tells lies; etc. The only thing he hasn't been caught doing to date is fooling around with women. Why all the ire for Clinton and not Bush, for example? I am interested in reasoned, objective responses.
Clarification/Follow-up by PLUTUS1947 on 11/10/03 5:31 am: Hello Paul Thanks for your comments. I agree Blair has nothing to fear at the moment. But as far as I can see, neither has Bush.
Answered By		Answered On
PLUTUS1947		11/10/03
Hello Paul May I be permitted please to take a rounder view of your question. Lord Acton, in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, 1887 wrote: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" Some people attribute the phrase to George Orwell. In fact it appears he borrowed it from Creighton. In my view this statement is one of the most profound ever made. Take a look at virtually any country in the world and look at the leaders of those countries. You will find varying degrees of corruption. Some of this totally inhuman but it is still allowed to continue. In my view Clinton although not the best President the US has ever had, was basically a good man. I must admit his morals were certainly suspect when he entered into a lliaison with Lewinski and his ethics were questionable when he lied about it. This however did not make him a bad President. When the story broke about his association with Lewinski, if he had held up his hand and admitted it instead of lying and trying to cover it up, I feel there would not have been such a 'witch hunt' and the American people would have forgiven him quite readily. To be honest I was extremely surprised to see how it became so blown up. (It must have been a 'slow news' week when the story initially broke). Equally I am at a loss as to how Bush ever managed to get into the position of the most powerful man in the world and indeed remain there. Bill Clinton was an angel compared to him. It obviously goes without saying that crime, corruption and womanizing have been rife in politics throughout the world since time began. It seems to me that the lack of ethics and morals are prerequisites for anyone wishing to embark on a career in politics. Although I hate saying this but being British, I consider Tony Blair to be not much better. However Blair and Clinton have one thing Bush has not, charisma. Take care PLUTUS1947

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