That didn't take long

When Bill Clinton was a Presidential candidate in 1992, he had to deal with allegations of serial marital infidelity. When the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke in 1998, it was no surprise that given his past, Clinton would eventually be involved in a Presidential sex scandal. This led to his impeachment, and contributed to the unsuccessful presidential campaigns of both Al Gore and Hillary Clinton.  

Donald Trump is yet to take office, but already questions are being raised about potential conflicts of interest, with his business interests interfering with his duties as President. The constitution prevents a President from using the office for personal benefit. It is highly likely that Trump will eventually be tarnished by a conflict of interest scandal. The question is if this will be serious enough to lead to his impeachment.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/donald-trump-constitution-liberals-231783

http://time.com/4578431/donald-trump-conflicts-of-interest-list/

Life imitates art

The other day I watched the HD version of Independence Day (1996), Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich's star-studded alien invasion of Earth popcorn movie extravaganza.

As I think about next year's American presidential election and the current field of candidates, I think about Bill Pullman's character in that movie, the fictional President Thomas J. Whitmore. Insofar as he is young and idealistic, Whitmore was described as being by reviewers at the time as being "Clintonian." Plainly speaking, he was partially based on then President Bill Clinton, who was running for re-election at the time.

Bill Clinton's enemies unfairly smeared him as a Vietnam War draft dodger, but allegations of his philandering turned out to be true. By contrast, Whitmore is a retired Air Force pilot who served in the 1991 Gulf War, a faithful husband, and a loving father. He proves his worth by rising to the challenge of defeating a global threat.

It's almost a pity that a man of Whitmore's calibre is not a candidate. Just over a year from election day, there is no candidate in the current field who has captured the imagination of the American public. Hillary Clinton will probably be the Democrat nominee, but the Republican field is too crowded. It's anyone's guess who the eventual nominee turns out to be. I just wish the oxygen thieves would drop out and improve the chances of those who actually have a chance of winning, and are actually capable of doing the job.

Information is power

As well as being community hubs, and helping people to develop research and critical thinking skills, libraries can also be used to dig up dirt on your political enemies.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/08/24/how-the-gop-is-digging-up-dirt-on-hillary.html

The first lady's man strikes again

Bill Clinton

There's no doubt that sex sells in marketing. Former US President Bill Clinton, whose private life has always been somewhat colourful, with more twists and turns than the roads through the Scottish highlands, is believed to have a secret mistress. That's one of the allegations in Ronald Kessler's forthcoming book, The First Family Detail: Secret Service Agents Reveal the Hidden Live of Presidents. 

Before a new biography or autobiography is published, its marketers often release salacious tidbits to the media to create pre-release buzz around it. Clearly that's what is happening here, and the public is probably thinking, "So, Bill's up to his old tricks, is he?"

The reader of this blog will never see it turned into a trashy supermarket tabloid or gossip column. I abhor gossip and rumours. The only reason I'm writing about it is because I wonder what impact this story will have on Hillary Clinton's ambitions to make a second run for the Presidency in 2016. Could an allegation like this stall her campaign at the traffic lights? Should she be a candidate, once again she'll have to deal with rumours and innuendo about her marriage, much like her husband did during his 1992 candidacy and entire tenure of office as President.

Bill Clinton's infidelities and his character issues were arguably one of the reasons why Vice President Al Gore lost the 2000 election to George W. Bush. Perhaps he's now dashed his wife's Presidential ambitions as well. 

On bended knee

Last week The Australian reprinted an article from Gerard Baker of The Times which was in my view a very incisive analysis of the current American Presidential election campaign. As Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama fight it out to secure the Democratic nomination, a cult of personality seems to have developed around Obama, where the mostly favourable news media coverage he has received has become almost idolatrous, with him becoming a pseudo-Messianic figure. If this article is to be believed, this is not a new phenonemon, stretching back to the days of Robert Kennedy and Jimmy Carter, and in more recent years, to Bill Clinton. Had Kennedy not been assassinated in June 1968, he may well have become President, and probably would have served two terms. For their part, Presidents Carter (1977-1981) and Clinton (1993-2001) turned out to be flawed and human after all, which would have come as a disappointment to those journalists who canonised them at the time.

Despite our mistrust of authority figures and the tall poppy sydrome, we in Australia have often fallen into the same trap. Despite leading one of the most bold and progressive, but also inept governments in Australian history, former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam (1971-1975) remains a hero to many from the non-conservative side of politics, as is Bob Hawke (1983-1991). As a Christian, I need to heed Scriptural counsel about respecting our political leaders and praying for them, but not to the extent of hero worshipping them, which would be sinful. In the end, we voters need to be objective and informed about politics and politicians. We need to see through the lofty rhetoric of election campaigns and not allow ourselves to be carried away by the grand promises we often hear at these times.