Jewish World Review /Jan. 19, 1999 / 2 Shevat, 5759
Europe's Really Worried Now
WAY BACK IN '98, when the Oval Office sex
scandal burst forth in full, lurid detail, most
folks in Europe seemed bemused (if
confused) by the degree to which it totally
captured America's political attention.
"Like most Puritans, you Americans are obsessed with sex," was
the way one old French friend put it. His conclusion, and that of
many other Europeans: "You've gone a little crazy; hopefully, it will
pass."
Well, it hasn't. And with the world watching the spectacle of an
American President standing partisan trial because he allegedly lied
about a sexual dalliance, most folks I spoke to on a trip to Europe
last week are now convinced we've gone completely nuts, if not
criminally insane.
"Here in Europe, a politician's private life is just that — his private
life," says popular French writer Marek Halter. "Besides, it's
normal. If a man betrays his wife, he doesn't admit it."
But Halter says the issue is greater than playing truth or
consequences about infidelity: "A big democracy cannot allow
clandestine love affairs to determine the global future. You are the
only superpower left. Just how do you expect anyone to take
American leadership seriously if you bring your national political
life — and the world's — to a grinding halt because of Clinton's
private life?"
As Halter and many other Europeans see it, the humiliating
impeachment process is pecking away at the presidency and will
continue to do so until both Bill Clinton and America lose their
leadership potential. "You are endangering the world."
The fact is, it's already had its eroding effects. The French are
convinced the recent bombing raids on Iraq were merely political
expediency. The French government, which has been dancing
around the issue of sanctions against Iraq in hopes of finding a way
to renew business ties with Saddam Hussein, has now openly
challenged the American-led position and calls for an immediate
lifting of the sanctions.
As for Saddam, he must be doing one of those Hitler-like victory
jigs around whichever of his 80 palaces he's currently hiding in.
The weakening of America hasn't gone unnoticed in the rest of the
Mideast, either. Palestinians and Israelis alike fear for the future of
their fragile peace process. As David Makovsky, senior analyst at
Israel's prestigious daily Haaretz, puts it: "We worry that America
is so preoccupied with the trauma of a stained dress that it will
forget about real issues and lurking dangers."
And that's just the Mideast. What about the ecological-political
crisis in the former Soviet Union? North Korea's saber-rattling?
The impact of the new Euro currency? Famine and genocide in
Africa? The economic hemorrhaging in Brazil? You name it.
"The U.S. is strong enough to eventually bounce back from most
anything," says leading Zurich business consultant Uelrich Richard.
"But in the short term, all this impeachment business will hurt both
the dollar and the stock market." Adds Richard: "Frankly, I'm
confused. The Republicans are shooting themselves in their own
rear end."
Of course, Republicans and other partisans of impeachment will
self- righteously argue that they are placing the values of
democracy above all, that impeachment for the sake of truth and
honest government demonstrates America's strength, not its
weakness.
But here, too, Europeans disagree. "We cannot understand," says
Marek Halter, "how the Congress of the greatest democracy in the
world ignores the opinion of the majority of its citizens who clearly
don't want this impeachment process. Where is the interaction
between legislators and the citizenry? You are not showing your
strength, you are showing weakness, and in a very direct way, you
are strengthening your totalitarian
By Richard Z. Chesnoff
JWR contributor and veteran journalist
Richard Z. Chesnoff is a senior correspondent at US News
And World Report and a columnist at the NY Daily News. His book on the wartime plunder
of the Jews, Pack of Thieves, will be published by Doubleday in 1999.
12/30/98: Despite Critics, Nazi Loot Hunt Is Right & Proper
12/21/98: To Beat Saddam, Sustain the Raids
11/24/98: Iran's Meddling Is a New Danger for South Africa
11/05/98: Saddam's a ticking time bomb
10/29/98:
Pollard's Release
Is a Key to Peace Deal
10/15/98:
Hawkish Sharon May
Bring Home the Dove of
Peace
10/07/98:
Flake of Araby Won't
Make Deal on Pan Am 103
8/25/98: Embarassed to be a journalist
8/24/98: Clinton Sent Right Message With Those Missiles . . .
8/17/98:
Fair Settlement
For Survivors of
the Holocaust
7/27/98: When hopes collide with reality
7/22/98: A lesson about peace ...in Auschwitz
7/15/98: What Hitler tried todestroy, the 'Net helped put back together
7/8/98: Love -- and leave -- thy neighbor
4/9/98: The US Navy's two faced Pollard policy
4/2/98: A breakthrough in Lebanon?
3/30/98: Full rights for all Israelis?
2/27/98: America's Schindler
1/30/98: A last chance for the Mideast?
1/11/98: The Moment for Restitution Has Arrived