Bill Clinton – The Loin King

I was going to write about the ideal woman but that will have to wait till New Year’s Eve, right now I can’t resist writing about one of Time magazine’s men of the year, Bill Clinton.

His story is interesting because it has as many layers as you care to dig, and as many angles as the Taj Mahal. And thanks to the power of American television, it was played out like a seedy soap opera in front of millions of people. The directors decided to cut costs with the characters so only about five people played key roles. The result was that the characters were given schizophrenic personalities. The hero is tall, handsome, and powerful. He is in charge of one of the richest countries of the world, commanding vast armies and weapons. He had a liberal education at Oxford, and oozes charm. He is married to an equally if not more intelligent woman of the nineties. As in all operas they appear to have a perfect life. Then real life intervenes.

The election of Bill Clinton as President of the United States brought hope to many Americans who were hitherto misunderstood or simply ignored; hope to Americans who believed in compassion, and eschewed strongman politics. Women and blacks were given opportunities they never had. The elderly were given more support. Education and health were given serious attention.

Clinton was praised for his foreign policy in sensitive areas. He managed to keep away the traditional criticisms of America as strongman while maintaining the balance between Taiwan and China. Despite the perennial setbacks, his Government was able to push the Middle East peace process forward between the Palestinians and Israelis.

His wife Hilary worked in tandem with him, complimenting him. He was obviously a ‘90s man since he didn’t see her accomplishments and popularity as a threat but as an asset.

He has one weakness. It is not uncommon amongst powerful driven men - women. His affairs were not an aberration but a vital part of a profile of men with power. Let us study this profile.

Many young women who have very little else but their beauty and physical assets are drawn to wealthy, powerful middle-aged men. (They have to be middle-aged to accumulate such wealth and high positions.) And wealthy and powerful men are drawn to beautiful, nubile women whom they wear on their arm like a prize. “Look what I’ve got,” they seem to say, as less fortunate men married to their familiar and increasingly dowdy wives look on with envy. But make no mistake, this is a very cynical contract. These young women know that they are little more than objects to be flashed like the Benz or the BMW or the penthouse. They know their role. Look pretty and shut up. Don’t EVER challenge the man, NEVER let him know you have a brain and ALWAYS make the man feel macho.

But these young girls too get something out it. They are in it for the money or career prospects. The men are in it because in midlife they’ve got everything but their youth. Through these young women older powerful men are able to buy youth. Occasionally they make fools of themselves: dress in clothes too absurdly young for them and cavort in discos frequented by teenagers, but who cares, they are after the illusion, and money can buy that. But generally they are discreet and they control their affairs well. Their secret is that they go for women who are not too smart or independent. Women who are fully in their power.

Bill Clinton did what all men in a far lesser position of power do all over the world. But he was so drunk with power that he never thought that this infantile plump girl called Monica could do him harm. So he coddled with her as he would with his favourite dog. Used her as a bit of a distraction. A little job here under the table, a little button down there to help him relax between brokering international peace accords.

From the beginning there were loud allegations and whispers of the President’s penchant for women. But the Clintons have always had the common touch (although in retrospect, with respect to Bill Clinton he went too far) and the sight of his independent, highly acclaimed, intelligent, attractive wife saying she stood by her man, helped the ride over those rough waters.

Monica was such a silly girl, with the ostensible mental capacity of a 13-year-old, that Bill didn’t see any harm in indulging both him and herself. The odd thing is that he found her rather breathless schoolgirlish tactics titillating. Or does it show that a man will go for ANY girl who tugs at her g-strings? Anyway, I suppose its always nice to have a delicious little secret when one is engaged with such weighty affairs of state, and world.

But he made a fatal mistake. Two actually. Firstly he didn’t think that silliness could actually be dangerous to a man in his position. Secondly, Monica didn’t quite fit the “easily controlled young thing” profile because she came from a very moneyed and powerful family.

The rest is history. A couple of vindictive women, Monica’s juvenile obsession which she called “love” led to Bill Clinton dropping to a place where no vagrant would want to be. It was a long long way to fall. He is politically dead. He is the laughing stock of the world. He is humiliated in front of billions of people worldwide. Except in Trinidad. If things get really bad he could always move to Trinidad where he could join the pack of men who cheat on their wives.

Here it’s not even cheating, and everyone is on his side since they don’t understand what the fuss is about. It’s a macho way of life. Everyone knows about it. Like a male friend once pointed out to me with great pride in a large party, “There is not one man here who does not have an outside woman.”

The majority of Americans agree that Bill is by and large a good President. People somehow trusted him. And that is no small gift to a man who has the capability to blow up the world in five days flat. I think. And popular opinion is still behind him. After all, what he did was a private affair between himself and his wife. And most people are honest enough to say that let he who has not sinned throw the first stone.

But there is another element to this story. That is, there are many ways to skin a man. Hilary was right when she said there is a right-wing conspiracy against Bill. It comes in the bloodthirsty form of a man called Starr and right-wing Republicans who are so jealous of him they are prepared to sacrifice all vestiges of American respect to skin him in public. They are tugging at the heartstrings of hypocrites and sanctimonious people with mean hearts. They say he lied under oath, that he committed adultery. Which man do you know will admit to adultery with a silly girl under the flashes of a hundred cameras live before the world? They can’t get him on foreign policy. They can’t compete with his popularity. They can’t have him for his brain. So they get him on every man’s weakest point. His loins. They have made him the Loin King.

But there is yet another layer. I hope this sordid scandal played out on the world stage has taught men that even little girls who teeter and totter in high heels and look like they don’t have a brain in their head have to be respected. They are somebody’s children, somebody’s daughters. I hope it’s taught men that under the lipstick and the Victoria Secret Underwear and the silicone breasts are real people who are lost, and need protection, not exploitation.

They may be desperate enough to make themselves into objects, they may have as little power as the mouse in the Lion and Mouse story, but they are capable of striking back. No sermon on the hill is as compelling as this threat to men who objectify women and cheat on their wives without thinking twice about it. Oh, and this hopefully has taught you that it is not always a good idea to go into anything loin first.

There is a third layer. It’s about Hilary. Here is a woman who is so accomplished that some call her the real power behind the President. She is cheated on several times. She makes a fool of herself by going on national TV and saying that her husband did not cheat on her. Yet she sticks by him! Leave him Hilary. We know you are cynical. That you have fought hard to get where you are. That being first lady has opened new doors for you, but you can’t be that hardheaded or that afraid to leave. You can make it on your own. From now on Bill will be more of an albatross around your neck than an asset. Let him go.

Here’s an example to women. Don’t humiliate yourself by clinging to a man who is cheating on you. He’ll only see it as licence to do it more or he’ll get rid of you. Leave him or you become as foolish as he does once the news is splattered on public walls.

As I said earlier, this story is interesting because it is many-layered. This should also be an example to little girls who adorn themselves for sugar daddies. At the end of the day, honey, these men are after just one thing and its not your brains. You'll be better off going back to college or taking a computer course. There’s more dignity in it to start with.

Now back to Bill. Leave the man alone. God knows what the world would come to if some typical American cowboy who goes bang bang took over? What’s going to happen in all the sore spots of the world? What’s going to happen to American democracy? We do admit to Bill doing bang bang Saddam Hussein but the man was desperate for attention to be taken away from his loins. But it was too transparent a move and attention was refocused on Bill’s private lives and parts with a renewed vigour by those who didn’t like the bombing.

What an odd Christmas it has been for the Americans. The Lion King of the world has been reduced to the Loin King.