White House soap

But it is remarkable given his background that he turned out to be the kind of person he is, capable of such leadership. He was so young, barely four, when he was scarred by abuse that he can8217;t even take it out and look at it.

There was terrible conflict between his mother and grandmother.8221; Just makes you think, doesn8217;t it, if this toing and froing between the two women left him with a destructivestreak of infidelity, what other acts of indiscipline does it predispose the ruler of the world8217;s only superpower to?

And yet, this belated visit to the ruins of l8217;affaire Lewinsky is not about Bill Clinton and his stained presidency, it definitely is not about condoning his dalliances. And it certainly is not about a sudden enchantment with old psychiatrists8217; tales 8220;a psychologist told me that being in the middle of a conflict between two women is the worst possible situation8221;.

With her husband8217;s stint at the White House coming to a quiet end and with ambitions to launch her own political career, Hillary is clearly extricating herself from First Couplehood, a bond she highlighted with a stoic silence through the impeachment proceedings. So just as US vice-president Al Gore launched his own presidential campaign with a denunciation of his boss8217;s conduct, Hillary, embarking on a campaign for a possible Senate bid, too had to reclaim the feminist constituency. So why not get ticklish issues out of theway before the race hots up, before her likely opponent, New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, raises some uncomfortable questions?

The only problem is, Hillary, like her husband who thought America would buy his ramblings on the possible definitions of the word 8220;is8221;, presumes the world out there is intellectually challenged. So the Lewinsky scandal, which she once deemed a right-wing conspiracy, is now attributed to emotional trauma at the age of four. Still, the American First Lady may be onto something when she speaks of psychological conditioning. Hillary once held forth on how in the eighties when her husband was making another gubernatorial bid, they devised a new game for their toddler of a daughter.

She would play candidate Bill and her challenge lay in sitting quietly as long as possible while her parents, no doubt pretending to be evil opponents, abused him. Perhaps, the Clintons8217; penchant for bringing their personal life centrestage has something to do with the masochist after-dinner games theyindulged in in their Arkansas days.