Chris Gelken has nearly 20 years experience as a photographer, writer, news editor and broadcaster.

For the past 11 years Chris has been based in Asia where he now works for Hong Kong's leading AM radio news station, Metro Plus.

Chris also contributes freelance material on a wide variety of topics to newspapers, magazines and radio networks internationally.

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To Err Is Human -- To Forgive Is Un-American

All week I have been hearing "Mea culpa" -- I'm guilty. It seems that a growing number of people are suggesting that POTUS admit to everything Ken Starr is accusing him of. The POTUS will then throw himself on the mercy of the American people and beg forgiveness. Now that Monica Lewinsky has gone before the grand jury, the calls are likely to become more strident. Well heck, if some of the emails I have received since posting The Tabloid Presidency are anything to go by, the American public -- and independent investigators -- may not be as forgiving as some people may like to think.

I have been accused of "crawling out of the woodwork" and offering 'outspoken support' to POTUS and his efforts to extricate himself from the Monica Lewinsky affair... I mean, issue. Gimme a break! I am simply trying to point out that when it comes down to activities concerning the one-eyed trouser snake, Clinton is just as likely to be as frail as the rest of us -- okay, he is a President -- but he is still human. The emphasis on "man".

Being President of the United States is a high profile -- in the public eye sort of job. It is also a very prestigious and powerful job. The Unwashed Public -- men and women -- are attracted to people who hold down jobs that imbue them with power and influence. Getting close to folks who rub shoulders with the great and good has a certain aphrodisiac effect. Getting close to the greatest and goodest of them all is downright Spanish Fly. Look at the groupies who follow middle-aged rock-stars, or stalk movie icons, or listeners who throw themselves at the feet of radio news announcers. Okay, the last one may be a bit of a stretch -- but I live in hope.

With the sort of intense pressure that POTUS is under taking care of business for 250 million Americans, are we really surprised that he may weaken when faced with the temptation of a quick fling in the arms of a young and sexually ambitious intern? Yes, say the moralists, he should be held to higher standards than the rest of us. Presidents should be married but celibate, non-smoking vegetarians who did their national military service and read the Bible when they are not involved in matters of state. C'mon, grow up.

It was pointed out that if a serving member of the U.S. military gave in to the same urges, that person would be drummed out of the service without a pension. This criteria, says one reader, should be applied to the Commander-in-Chief. Okay, I agree in principle with the sentiment expressed by the reader, but I disagree with the law. Adultery a court-martial offense! Harking back to a recent case, just because a guy got turned on by and seduced a female nuclear bomber pilot, but was married to an enlisted woman, the highly trained (at public expense) pilot gets busted. Okay, she got busted for lying about the affair. We're splitting hairs -- she did what any normal person would do. Did it affect her flying?

Let's get our minds off tacky subjects for a while and take a reality check. Bill Clinton has doubtless lied about a good many things far more important than Flowers, Jones and Lewinsky -- or dodging the draft, smoking dope, etc. etc. I am not a Clinton apologist, but let's face it, his administration has benefited more average Americans that it has hurt. Well, that is so far as we know. (Fade up theme to The X Files.)

If the "Get Clinton" mob really want to bust the POTUS, use the tax-payer millions being spent by Ken Starr to nail the sucker for something that really counts. The evidence is doubtless out there -- let's not wait for 30-years to find out that Clinton was plucked from a Soviet orphanage as a very young child, planted as a deep-cover mole and then sold out to the Chinese when the U.S.S.R. collapsed.

I am convinced that the sex-lies angle being persued by Starr is simply a variation of the tax-dodging or mail fraud raps that the FBI use to bring down mobsters. It smacks of "We know he's guilty of something, but just can't figure what" mentality. Obviously, despite mountains of circumstantial evidence, Starr and numerous Congressional committees can't dig up enough evidence to prove that Clinton sold America down the Yangtze in exchange for campaign contributions and an easy ride during his visit to China. The idea, I guess, is to bust him for something else -- and just about anything will do.

The problem I have with this is that if Clinton goes down for a petty felony -- his accomplices allegedly involved in bigger and more far reaching criminal acts will likely go unpunished. Now that would be really criminal.

Chris Gelken
13 August 1998
Hong Kong