c. 1998 Religion News Service
UNDATED _ Three parents talked _ about Clinton-Lewinsky-Starr, what else! _ at a school picnic. No pollsters were present, but those who claim to be our nation’s leaders might listen up anyway.
We disagreed about how thoroughly President Clinton apologized for his dalliance with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. But we did agree his speechwriter either wasn’t consulted or should be fired. People like their remorse better packaged than last week’s”I did it”address to the nation.
What, exactly, did we expect? We weren’t sure.
The words were right. He took responsibility for his behavior. The barbs at Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr constituted only a small portion of his address _ four paragraphs out of 20. But the speech didn’t sell.
Neither did Sen. Orrin Hatch’s whiny response to it.”Can you believe that man has almost gotten on to the Supreme Court?”said a father at our table.
It wasn’t the address that fell short, we agreed. It was the whole scene: Professional politicians scrutinizing each other as a massive press corps watches, probes and dissects. Who are these people? Is the nation served by professional office-seekers and office-seeker-watchers who know little of life outside the Beltway?
We agreed that none of us could stand that kind of public scrutiny. Not only does every one of us have something to hide, but the spotlight itself robs the soul and distorts perceptions.
We tried to imagine Harry Truman confronting Ken Starr. That would be a salty encounter! But we agreed a plain-spoken man like Truman wouldn’t get elected in this age of the all-seeing eye. Neither would a Franklin D. Roosevelt. Instead we get photogenic panderers who know how to work the press and turn over-scrutiny into power. Watch for the repackaging of Dan Quayle.
We agreed President Clinton could have saved himself some trouble by greeting initial allegations with the so-called”Tylenol defense”_ tell it all, tell it promptly. But what adulterer has such wisdom?
We agreed the president’s best ally now isn’t the forgiving nature of the American public, but that the alternative _ Newt, Orrin, the religious right _ is even more frightening.
Analysts talk about the”cynicism”of the American public, as if we just don’t realize how serious these matters are. Yes, I did hear some cynicism in our picnic-table commentary, but it was of the Leno-Letterman sort, not the helpless dog who can only bark.
If a politician took the time to listen _ which I can’t for a minute imagine _ he wouldn’t hear cynicism, but rather light regard. For our consensus was that real life was happening here: children playing, adults connecting, fried chicken in the late-summer sunshine, a work day over. Real life is the smile on my son’s face as we invent new verses to”One, two, buckle my shoe.”Real life is a mother tying her daughter’s shoe laces. Real life is a boy playing too rough and needing to be guided.
No klieg light shines on moments such as these. And if one did, it would ruin them. Life is a private affair. So is repentance. By turning our political life into a brightly lighted circus, we have guaranteed that it is, well, a circus, an exercise in illusion, carried out by an odd class of people who like costumes and applause. When the circus comes to town, we watch it. But no one thinks it’s real.
We weren’t asking for a return to secret smoke-filled rooms and backroom dealings by the greasy-palmed. But it has become clear that serious government can’t happen under the big top. Too many reporters chasing Woodward-Bernstein glory. Too many politicians angling for advantage in dueling perceptions. Too many pollsters testing the product. Too much light shining on small stuff.
This day in the life of three North Carolina citizens was about children, new jobs, evolving marriages, life decisions, and singing silly songs. Politicians didn’t enter in, except as an after-dinner mint.
The spotlight’s main victim, you see, is the one on whom it shines.
END EHRICH
