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Published on 09/21/1998 All articles from this issue

Morning Forum speaker talks on Clinton and his not-so-historic place in history

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By Laura Brown

Special to the Town Crier

The Morning Forum of Los Altos began its 48th season Sept. 22 with White House correspondent Karen Breslau speaking on "How Will History Judge the Clinton White House?" Breslau told the forum she believes Bill Clinton will remain as president, but that the Lewinsky scandal will forever compromise his ability to implement legislation and his place in history.

Breslau, White House correspondent for Newsweek Magazine and a Knight Fellow at Stanford University, noted that Clinton can be viewed as either a victim of or catalyst for the "tabloid presidency" phenomenon which has stripped away the awe for the presidency that shielded earlier presidents from such intense public scrutiny of their private lives.

As the first "pop culture" president, Breslau said Clinton spoke publicly about his underwear, his weight problems and his marital problems.

At the same time, around-the-clock news coverage and the emergence of the tabloid press increased coverage of every aspect of the presidency.

Noting that the Clintons came to Washington full of purpose and promise, Breslau said they became mired in Whitewater, Travelgate and Filegate scandals, the Paula Jones case, and finally, Monica Lewinsky.

She said they magnified their problems by refusing to cooperate and accusing every accuser as part of a conspiracy. "The cover-up went into gear before they could be exonerated," Breslau said.

She said that the greater effect of these events is that the series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions against Clinton have virtually destroyed the concept of executive privilege and lawyer-client privilege, and compromised the separation of powers.

While she believes that some of this will be remedied by future legislation, many important constitutional issues have been called into question.

Breslau noted that as an overseas correspondent, she covered the fall of the governments of East Germany, the Czech Republic and the Soviet coup against Gorbachev.

In this case, she hopes her record will not repeat itself.

Membership in The Morning Forum is closed for this year. For membership information, write to The Morning Forum of Los Altos, P.O. Box 274, Los Altos 94023.