President Bill Clinton and The Lewinsky Scandal Essay -- William Jeffe

Clinton and The Lewinsky stainOn January 17th, 1998, President Clinton videotaped a deposition for the Paula Jones lawsuit against him. December 19th, eleven months later, Bill Clinton became only the second chairman in our nations history to face impeachment from congress. The 1998-1999 was a degraded year for the President, the media, and the American people as a whole. Yet, the most matter to and surprising aspect of the scandal was not that Bill Clinton would ever deceive on his wife or that his administration would survive such a terrible scandal. Nor was it a revelation that the media would be zealously intrigued by a sex scandal involving the President. The one aspect of the Lewinksy grease that was truly kindle was the response of the public. Despite the knowledge that Clinton had an affair with an intern and probably be about it, Clintons job approval rating did not light or even stay the same his ratings rose to levels approaching 70% Every time a new damni ng piece of turn up came to light, media pundits everywhere believed that Clintons ratings would fall. Yet, they were wrong. The Republican Party believed that the scandal would finally carry down Clinton and his popular support. They also were wrong and paid a respectable political price. How did this happen? To help understand and explain this phenomenon, I forget examine three political actors -- the President, the media, and the public and their relationship with each other. I will discuss President Clintons past and his history of scandals. The appearance that each actor has dealt with Clintons scandal-ridden past has had an important effect on how each responded to and was affected by the Lewinsky Scandal. Each actors res... ...Wilcox, humankind Opinion The Paradoxes of Clintons Popularity, ed. accent J. Rozell and Clyde Wilcox, The Clinton Scandal and the Future of American governance (Washington, D.C. Georgetown University Press, 2000)p. 117. Ibid. Ibid. Mol ly W. Andolina and Clyde Wilcox, Public Opinion The Paradoxes of Clintons Popularity, ed. Mark J. Rozell and Clyde Wilcox, The Clinton Scandal and the Future of American Government (Washington, D.C. Georgetown University Press, 2000) p.117. Michael J. Gerhardt, The Impeachment and Acquittal of William Jefferson Clinton, ed. Mark J. Rozell and Clyde Wilcox, The Clinton Scandal and the Future of American Government (Washington, D.C. Georgetown University Press, 2000). Robert Busby, Defending the American President Clinton and Lewinsky Scandal (New York Palgrave, 2001) p.47. Ibid. p.213. Ibid.