Clinton adrift in the sea of smut

But the first opinion polls soon after the release of the sensational Starr Report shows most Americans saying he is doing a good job and he should not be impeached.

A CNN/Gallup poll conducted hours after the Starr report was released showed the president’s job approval rating at 62 percent, much the same as before the report. Almost the same numbers (63 percent) said he should not be impeached but Congress could censure him for his behaviour.

Experts however cautioned that the opinion polls may have spoken too early and the public mood may shift. Aseparate ABC News poll revealed a seven-to 11-point drop in support for Clinton on a range of issues, from his job approval rating to the question of impeachment.

In these early polls, six in ten Americans polled had not read the Starr report and were not aware of the contents. The contents are explosive. In making a case for the impeachment of the President, Independent Counsel Ken Starr has detailed in excruciating and often salacious passages sexual encounters between Clinton and White House intern Monica Lewinsky, including what some say could constitute sexually deviant behavior.

The sexual episodes described as so brazen and lurid that commentators are now beginning to ask if the President is suffering from Satyriasis — a medical form of sexual addiction — and whether he needs psychological counselling.

All of them take place in the White House Oval Office study, sometimes between conduct of official business and the coming and going of staff. In one encounter that is bound to rankle thelawmakers who will decide Clinton’s fate, the President receives oral sex from Monica Lewinsky while he is on the phone talking to a Congressman. In another shocking episode, he uses a cigar to stimulate Lewinsky.

The American public, at least those of who read or heard of the details in the report, are aghast. Many called it a shameful day in American history. Washington’s loudtalking politicians hung their heads in embarrassment.

The President made a public appearance Friday evening, hours after the report was released on the Internet, looking quite unperturbed and having dispensed with the hangdog expression he had in the morning when he made a contrite apology to the nation, his family and Lewsinky and her family.

First Lady Hillary Clinton was also at the function of Irish-Americans, looking calm and undisturbed. But inside the White House, the President’s lawyers scrambled to put together rebuttals. They argued that Starr’s graphic expositions were intended to humiliate the President and destroyhim politically. The report was “personal, not impeachable,” they said.

White House spinmeisters were also closely monitoring the “disgust factor,” which could force Clinton out of office.

At the White House briefing on Friday, administration officials said in response to questions that Clinton’s international parleys, especially at the upcoming UN session in New York from September 22, would remain unaffected by the scandal.

Prime Minister A B Vajpayee will also be in New York, and although no meetings have been fixed yet, he could conceivably meet the US President.

Meanwhile, lawmakers on the Hill who can decide Clinton’s fate repaired for the weekend, having taken the unprecedented decision to make the report available not only to the American public, but to the entire world through the Internet. For legislators who are so concerned about smut and pornography on the Internet, movies and television, the decision came as a surprise, since the Starr Report is coarse beyond belief.

The lawmakerswill reconvene on Monday by which time everyone will have a better idea of the public mood — the public having read the report over the weekend and listened to the non-stop talking heads on television.

As a first step, the 35 members of the House Judiciary Committee (typically headed by a Republican with a Republican majority) will examine the report and 2,000 pages of additional evidence. After investigations and hearings, the committee will decide whether to send “articles of impeachment” to the full House for a vote.

This could take months, since the House will be sitting for only another fortnight or so before Congressional elections. In that case, the new House and a new committee will take the matter forward and send the articles of impeachment. If the articles are approved by a majority of the House, the Senate would begin a formal trial, with the Chief Justice presiding. A two-thirds vote of the Senate is required to remove the president from office. All this could drag on till the end of thePresidency. But if the disgust factor becomes too high, then the President could decide to resign.