When I was growing up, my mother reacted to bad news (which, not infrequently, related to my performance in school) by saying “I need this like I need a loch in kop” – Yidddish for “hole in the head”.
I doubt that Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks much Yiddish. But, if she did, she might be using that expression today, in reacting to the re-emergence of Monica Lewinsky (or, as some indelicately referred to her, Monica Blewclinsky).
I doubt that you need me to remind you of who Monica Lewinsky is. But I\’m going to do so anyway, because it gives me a chance to put the problem she presents in perspective: Monica Lewinsky was a powerless White House intern, who Hillary Clinton\’s husband, Bill Clinton – the head of the organization Lewinsky worked for – had a variety of sexual relationships with. In the workplace, during the workday.
Oh, did I mention that this is also where Mr. and Ms. Clinton lived? Sorry, should have done that.
But now, at 41 years of age, and 16 years past this scandal, Ms. Lewinsky has, for some God-only-knows-what reason, decided to go public about her serial philandering with Mr. Clinton.
Speaking in Philadelphia yesterday morning, she had this to say about her “presidential kneepads” fling and how put-upon she felt by the fact that drudgereport.com reported it online:
“Overnight,I went from being a completely private figure to a publiclyhumiliated one.”
A hint for you, Monica: If you want your life to be completely private, maybe it\’s not a great idea to service the single most powerful, media-covered man in the country over and over again, where he works and where he lives. There\’s just a tiny possibility that news of what you are doing might come out.
And if you are sensitive to people wanting their privacy, then unless you hate Hillary Clinton\’s guts and your intention is to have to talk about this part of her life again, as she tries to position herself for a possible presidential run, it probably wasn\’t a good idea to remind everyone of what happened again at this time.
Personally, when the Clinton/Lewinsky story broke, my sympathies lied mostly with Lewinsky. She was the powerless one. She was the one who Clinton could have had removed any time he wanted. I never bought that story about her instigating the sex by flashing a thong at him because, even if she had done so, one word from him and she would have instantaneously been gone. The only reason they had sexual relations was because he wanted to. Period, end of story.
No, the culprit was Bill Clinton, not Monica Lewinsky – and that also goes for whichever others of them had their way with her, since (my memory is hazy on this part) I vaguely remember that it was possible she was being passed around to various Clinton cronies, including, but not restricted to, Vernon Jordan.
But now? After largely fading into obscurity (thus retrieving at least some of that privacy she laments losing) to go public and bring it right back to the front pages and the cable news shows? Ms. Lewinsky gets no sympathy from me. She has no one to blame but herself.
I hope she doesn\’t expect any invitations to the Clintons\’ next cocktail party…
…(uh, well, maybe not from Hillary. As for Bill, it sure does get lonely sometimes….)
