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Jewish World Review / Sept. 14, 1998 / 23 Elul, 5758

Don Feder

Bubba isn't the only one who should be ashamed

ACCORDING TO SPECIAL PROSECUTOR KENNETH STARR'S report to Congress, Bill Clinton committed no fewer than 11 impeachable offenses: five counts of lying under oath, four counts of obstructing justice, one count of tampering with a witness and one count of abusing his constitutional authority by "lying to the public and the Congress in January 1998 about his relationship with Ms. Lewinsky."

That "relationship" is set forth in sordid detail in the section of the report describing various "sexual encounters," which reads like a letter from Wilt Chamberlain to The Penthouse Forum.

Yeah, right

Among the less raunchy disclosures: "He put his hand down my pants and stimulated me manually." "He unzipped his pants and exposed himself." From there, we slide into an NC-17 rating.

He? If you were playing Clue, the answer would be: the president of the United States, in the White House, with the 21-year-old intern.

The dignity of the presidency has landed in the gutter.

But, while we are busy clucking our tongues and wagging our heads, let's be honest, we knew what this guy was about in 1992. That part of the public that wasn't producing flat brainwaves certainly had his number by 1996.

As early as '92, we knew of Gennifer Flowers and had heard candidate Clinton on tape telling his squeeze du jour to deny their relationship. Are we're now shocked to learn that our the president is a lecher and liar?

We also knew that the future commander in chief was a draft-dodger. We had it on good authority that scammed the officer in charge of the ROTC unit at the University of Arkansas to get his Oxford deferment during the Vietnam War.

We were vaguely aware of Whitewater, and could have surmised that, as Arkansas governor, Clinton operated with the ethical niceties of a junk-bond dealer. But, for too many of us, there were more important considerations. He was, after all, a charming rogue who courted us with oily skill.

By 1996, we knew of the White House travel office massacre, wherein a group of dedicated civil servants were fired to make room for cousins and cronies and smeared by the first family to justify the sordid affair. We knew that the FBI and IRS had been used to dig for dirt on these unfortunates.

We knew about the 900-plus FBI files, containing unfiltered allegations on prominent Republicans, in the hands of an ex-bouncer in the White House who no one would admit to either hiring or supervising.

We knew that Jim and Susan McDougal, and other Clinton associates, were wearing stripped suits for their roles in Whitewater.

In addition, we had the revelations of his trooper/procurers from Arkansas days and Gary Aldrich, the ex-FBI agent who served in Clinton's Animal House on Pennsylvania Avenue. And still we re-elected the heap of infamy.

Who's responsible for the creep in the White House?

The soccer moms --- who were smitten by Clinton's caddish charm. He was so sensitive to women's concerns. He felt their pain, as well as parts of the anatomy of any young woman who came within reach.

Democrats --- who, after 12 years in the executive wilderness, hungered for positions and patronage and were eager to undue Reagan's legacy.

They knew that Clinton was the dictionary definition of sleaze but maintained the Mafia code of silence for the sake of the party. Now, their party is about to be stranded on Billigan's Island.

The greedy interests --- teachers, labor unions, trial lawyers, feminists and racial hustlers, who put political or pecuniary considerations above the general welfare.

Members of my estate who worshipped at feet of clay -- Anthony Lewis, Geraldo Rivera, Bryant Gumbel and Eleanor Clift. The last, in her desperation to find mitigating circumstances for the Lewinsky liaisons, observed that at least Bill's babe wasn't jail bait.

Co-President Hillary Rodham Clinton --- who sold her soul for a pottage of power. She could have pulled the plug on the "Kiss it" boy in '92. Hillary didn't know what Bill was up to the way Admiral Yamamoto didn't know what the Japanese fleet was doing in the North Pacific in December 1941.

Those who bought the line that if the president acts like a rutting pig in his private pen, it's none of our business. Unwittingly, they presided over the divorce of government and ethics.

Too many Americans have spent the past six years in denial, with their eyes fixed on the Dow and their conscience, not to mention their critical faculties, on hold. Clinton isn't the only one who should hang his head in shame.