As the World Interns
The initial phase of the Clinton counter-thrust, which hit the beach on the
Sunday chat shows, leads everywhere. The main theme is not defend Clinton so
much as attack Starr. The TV appearances of James Carville and Paul Begala are
noted all around, as is the return to the White House of Harold Ickes, Mickey
Kantor, and Harry Thomasson (filming "A Place Called Hopeless?"). Everybody
also reports that negotiations between Ken Starr and Monica L.'s lawyer
continue.
USA
Today reports that the strategy includes Clinton issuing a fresh denial
at 10 AM (ET) this morning at an event focusing on his child care proposals.
The Washington Post says this move was still up for
debate as it went to press.
USAT and the Wall Street Journal state that ABC News reports that
Clinton and Lewinsky were seen "in an intimate encounter" in the White House in
1996. The front-page of the Los Angeles Times has this too, but with no mention
of ABC as the source.
The WP lead reveals that Clinton has directed his pollsters to find
out how much the scandal has affected his standing with the public. The
New York Times
says an internal poll has already shown a drop of 15 percentage points.
Independent polls mentioned in the dailies also indicate slippage. The
Post paints a backstage picture in which anxious aides fear that the
president is not widely believed. And, the paper says, several administration
officials and Democrat operatives privately say they are worried that Clinton
may not be telling the truth. Some Democratic congressional staff members tell
the Post that Clinton's plan to omit all mention of the controversy from
the State of the Union speech is "totally surreal."
The NYT lead is accompanied by a large picture of Bill and Hillary
coming out of church yesterday morning sharing a big ole laugh with the
minister. (They must have really enjoyed the sermon, "The Eight Commandments.")
The Times notes that in their public remarks Sunday, the pro-Clintonites
were careful not to attack Lewinsky. "We don't want to push her into Starr's
arms," is the explanation. The paper also states that Clinton loyalists are
"greatly distressed," and mentions that William Cohen recently looked unusually
depressed and shaken. Cohen is quoted as saying in a private meeting that if
the accusations are true, "it's all over."
Another case of staff distress is reported by the WSJ , which recounts
how, at a public forum in D.C., Clinton health-care adviser Chris Jennings
broke down in tears in the middle of a speech.
The Journal editorial "Bonfire of the Presidency" counters the suggestion coming
from some quarters that Monica L. has an overactive imagination with the
question, "Did a delusional 24-year-old make up the point about perjury not
often being prosecuted in civil cases?" The Journal finds all the
psychopathology in the case elsewhere: ".[T]he roots of this crisis lie
somewhere in the psyche shaped by Mr. Clinton's genes, troubled childhood and
life experiences."
The story of the Pope's departure from Cuba after a five-day stay makes everybody's
front. A big part of the stories is his condemnation of the U.S. embargo of the
island. But the pontiff also criticized Cuban atheism and called for the
protection of all Cubans' rights.
The NYT reports that a new study from the CDC shows a continuing, and in some ways,
growing disparity between the health of blacks and whites. Some examples: The
number of diabetes cases rose 33 percent among blacks, three times the increase
among whites. Ditto for infectious diseases. And from 1987 to 1995, the death
rate for black mothers in childbirth jumped 48 percent, compared with an
overall rate of 7.6 percent. And blacks still have two times the infant
mortality rare of whites.
In light of the decision by Sonny Bono's widow to run for his congressional
seat, the LAT front page reports that among first-time House candidates
from 1916 to 1993, 84 percent of the widows won, while only 14 percent of the
other women did.
The NYT runs an op-ed by writer Janna
Malamud Smith that states "If we're going to make simplistic rules about
truth-telling, mine would start here: Ms. Tripp should have told Ms. Lewinsky
why she invited her to lunch.. " Elsewhere on the page, Anthony
Lewis makes a point in passing that's been overlooked thus far: Ken Starr
first got Ms. Tripp to wear a wire and then used its fruits to get permission
to widen his investigation. Shouldn't the permission to widen have
preceded the wire, which was in fact the widening?
