The BIG news this week was our former President’s speech at the Democratic Convention. Bill Clinton wowed the audience with his charismatic personality and superior public speaking abilities.
Carolyn Kaster/AP
I posted the following comment on Facebook the day after Clinton’s speech… Bill Clinton is a VERY charismatic, effective speaker. I just have a hard time giving credibility to a man who told millions of Americans, “I did NOT have sex with that woman!” and then was OOPS caught in a BIG, fat lie!
My post irritated a few of my online friends. Others expressed their support for what I had to say.
I had to remind a few people that I was writing about Bill Clinton not Obama or Romney. I was not taking political sides or telling people who to vote for! I was expressing how I felt about being lied to by a man who held the highest and most powerful office in this country!
I’ve been thinking about why this bothers me so much. Even though I’ve written about it before, I feel it’s worth sharing my thoughts again.
As parents, we sit our young children down and explain to them why lying is wrong. We share stories with them about what happens to people who go through life telling lies. We encourage them to always tell the truth.
Then our children grow up and discover that Mom and Dad fed them a HUGE lie! Why you can grow up and become the President of the United States of America, have sex in the White House with someone other than your spouse, have all the intimate details go viral in the blink of an eye and THEN go on national television and deny that it ever happened!
And…People will be expected to forget all about the BIG lie!
Would someone please explain to me how this is considered acceptable? I have heard every excuse in the book for Bill Clinton’s BIG lie. I’m not buying into any of them. He got away with his affairs for years and pushed his luck when he decided to unzip his pants in the White House while serving as our President!
If an administrator or teacher had done something like this on school grounds, he or she would be fired on the spot. Parents would be OUTRAGED and demand for a resignation. HOW DARE A TEACHER….A ROLE MODEL FOR OUR CHILDREN HAVE SEX ON SCHOOL GROUNDS! The public would show no mercy!
I believe that if your average American behaved like Clinton did in the workplace, he or she would have lost the respect of his family, friends and co-workers and most likely destroyed his or her professional reputation.
So why should I respect and give credibility to Bill Clinton, who held the highest and most powerful office in our country?
I think we are in deep sh-t in this country when it comes to our morals and ethics.
We create celebrities from people who exhibit inappropriate behavior. We know that leaking a naked picture or sex tape will get millions of hits on the internet and put someone unworthy in the limelight!
We replace quality television programming with idiotic reality shows because producers think it’s easy to dumb down America.
We need positive role models for our young people to look up to especially when it comes to endorsing a candidate for the most powerful position in our country.
I would have given more credibility to a character from Sesame Street!
Elmo from Sesame Street
Debi Drecksler is a registered Democrat who resides in North Carolina.
I, myself have the audacity to separate Bill’s credibility in his personal life from his credibility to stand and tell the truth concerning our country, if even only the past four years. He spoke facts, and it was the one time that his ‘broken’ clock was right. Counting his sins and shortcomings simply means that I have to stop counting my own, and they are ever before me. I have garnered, through grace, the ability to realize that, as humans, we all falter, attempt to save face, learn and grow to be better among our family/friends, the nation, and to ourselves. I can, with one swoop, pick apart the imperfections of everyone standing to lead this country, from Congress to CIC, but what will that bring, but no one to lead? I can choose to imprison myself by holding his mistakes over his head, or even my own over my own; I choose to live and let live; teach and learn, and to be accountable for my own actions. It is often said that, ‘one lie kills a thousand truths’, and in this I do believe; however facts stand on their own, even when a liar utters them.
I do agree and I though I think Bill Clinton has many strengths..is weaknesses in office were deplorable!
Beautifully said! I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts!
I wrote this from a Mother’s perspective…I believe we need decent,respectful role models for our future generations. The President of the United States is the most powerful person in this country and I expect him (or her) to be an exemplary role model while in office. Thank-you for your comment.
I think a person in public office is entitled to a private life. I believe we go too far EXPOSING their personal lives. As a president he did remarkable things for us. I do not judge him for his personal failings they did not affect his job. He is a brilliant man and stays informed and makes himself available to help or consult. I am always interested in his common sense approach and don’t care what he does otherwise. I hold him in high esteem because his sex life and his handling of the butt ins is none of my concern. I would have lied too.
I agree with what Linda said. A person isn’t any one thing they’ve ever done. Bill Clinton had/has a sexual issue. That caused him and his wife a ton of pain, I’m sure. He did lie about his affair with Monica Lewinsky, but I’m not sure if everything else he does should be viewed entirely through that lens.
I want to raise my children with good morals, but also with the knowledge that we’re all redeemable. Without redemption why not just put a revolver in our mouths?
Bill Clinton has many strengths and I don’t think his credibility has a world leader and someone who understands politics and the way the world works is ruined because he has a sexual control problem. I see those two things as separate.
I expect more of the President of our country. I was disappointed that he lied about having extramarital sexual relations in the White House while he was President. The LIE was what disappointed me as much as his lack of respect for his spouse. Obviously, like John Edwards (from my state) he cared more about his own selfish needs than behaving like a respectable person/politician. Politics involves a lot of public scrutiny. Americans deserve the right to know the men and women who are their leaders.
I have a difficult time finding a liar credible especially when the liar once held the most powerful job in our country. I would have had more respect for Clinton if he had been honest with the American public about his sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky while serving as our President.
I was appalled by his lack of character/sensitivity/morals as well. You mentioned John Edwards, a man whom so many respected, as did I. I feel very jaded after being disappointed in our leaders over and over again. Yet their good deeds can’t be ignored. As an employee of Penn State, I am dealing with the crushing disappointment in a man who did so much good for the university, Joe Paterno, but made a very bad judgment call that has destroyed his reputation. Much as I deplore his failure to take action in a dire situation, I can’t label him as an evil man. He, like Clinton, Edwards and everyone else, was human, and as such, made mistakes.
I understand exactly what you’re saying. I just feel it’s none of my business and tells me nothing about what kind of a leader he is. He lied about his PERSONAL life to the American people, his bosses. I understand why he did that. I wish he hadn’t and I wish he hadn’t gotten himself involved in such nonsense, but he did and it is not my place to forgive him. It is my place to decide if it changed how he did his job or whether or not his judgement is good.
I will find other occupations, not politicians, to use as role models for my grand babies and for myself! I will live a life they can emulate and they can see in ME how life should be lived. Presidents have much bigger issues than impressing kids. And I don’t believe we have a right to know what goes on in our President’s sex lives, not at all.
But…I respect your views and will always treat them with respect and understanding. ♥
OMG Linda I think you are my sister from another mother (ok I’m also a registered Republican but that’s another story)! I think you put this perfectly, and I agree 100% – I’m sorry I missed it on Facebook or I would have cheered for you there too! Thank you for sharing.