In recent history, one would be hard pressed to find one politician surrounded in more controversy what Bill Clinton did. His scandals have included drugs, adultery, treason, fraud, and affair. Clinton was the youngest governor of Arkansas and has been awarded with many different honors and still has misused his power. People will always remember Bill Clinton but might be different. Some might remember him as a wonderful president who helped our country pulls through the millennium unscathed.He protected our environment, promoted education, strengthened our economy, dropped the crime rate, dropped our nation’s poverty levels and had some victories with international policies. The latest opposition that has plagued his presidency resulted in him becoming only the second president in the history of the United States to be impeached.

Clinton has done many things during his presidency. Some were good some were bad. He made some mistakes and bad choices, but in the whole, he helped our country excel and flourish. One of the things Clinton is most famous for, but not the proudest of, is his affairs while in presidency.In 1995, Monica Lewinsky, a recent graduate of Lewis and Clark College in Portland, began an internship at the White House in Washington, D. C. She quickly became close acquaintances with the President, as she transferred to a job in which she worked very closely to him” (Isikof). This is when the infamous Monica Lewinsky first appeared on our television sets.

The American population did not know Lewinsky until the scandal broke. With records of 37 visits to the Oval Office by a 21 year old intern, anyone who thinks that Bill Clinton did not have sex with Monica Lewinsky is a simpleton.Linda Tripp, a friend of Monica Lewinsky’s, taped several phone conversations that she had with Lewinsky in which Lewinsky talked about giving oral sex to Clinton in a private study in the Oval office.

“Throughout the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, media pundits and commentators puzzled and despaired that Americans were not more outraged at their president’s behavior” (Kurtz). After the media was informed of the activities between Clinton and Lewinsky the little known woman was instantaneously the topic of conversation all over the world.All across America people were talking about the sexual scandal in the White House. And the top story in the news day after day, months after months have been about Clinton and Lewinsky. Who could blame them, but there is nothing better than a story out of the normal, especially one with presidential status. For all the past months Clinton has been the most talked about figure, being the essential topic for news, talk shows, late night comedy and even going as far as the big screen.Clinton had not just become the most talked about figure, but also one history had ever seen, so far that is, breaking the record and becoming a topic of different conversations.

One day Clinton was giving the speech when he stared the camera in the eye and convincingly claimed; “I want to say one thing to the American people. I want you to listen to me. I’m going to say this again. I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky” (Arshad). Clinton expected the American people to believe that he did not have any sexual-relationships with Lewinsky.But “Lewinsky has said in a sworn affidavit she did not have an affair with Clinton but, in taped telephone conversations with a friend, is reported to have said she had oral sex with him in the White House and “telephone” sex late at night”(Arshad 19). Clinton was accused of lying under oath regarding his relationship with Monica Lewinsky and impeding justice when he supposedly told Monica to lie about their relationship.

And Clinton added, wagging his finger for emphasis; “I never told anybody to lie, not a single time-never. These allegations are false and I need to go back to work for the American people” (Arshad 20).After several months Clinton has appeared on television many times admitting many things and apologizing; “I have acknowledged that I made a mistake, said that I regretted it, asked to be forgiven I did have a relationship with Ms. Lewinsky that was not appropriate.

In fact, it was wrong. It constituted a critical lapse in judgment and a personal failure on my part for which I am solely and completely responsible” (Kemler). A linguistics professor, Deborah Tannen told Time Magazine that “.

.. men hardly ever apologize because doing so entails admitting fault and that shows weakness..

. (Carlson 44).In the beginning of the Monica Lewinsky situation, Clinton said that he had not had a relationship with that woman, so “… why would Clinton now, after seven months of sustained lying, suddenly choose honestly? ” (Carlson 44). Maybe because there were too much evidence such as “the audiotapes by Linda Tripp, the sworn statements and testimonies of Ms. Tripp, .

.. the courier records, White House phone logs, visitation logs, Secret Service logs, internal communication memos, security camera tapes, and numerous other pieces of evidence will undeniably prove that Ms. Lewinsky and the President had a long-running relationship” (Lauf).

The evidences against Clinton for sexual misconduct are very strong. “Two sources familiar with Monica Lewinsky’s testimony Thursday before a federal grand jury told CNN that Lewinsky said she had more than a dozen sexual encounters with the president over an 18-month period beginning in November 1995” (All Politics, Aug. 6, 1998). Tripp’s secret audio tapes of conversations with then- friend Lewinsky helped trigger the investigation that led to Clinton’s impeachment.He was impeached by the House in December 1998 on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice stemming from his affair with Lewinsky when she was a White House intern.

The issue of Clinton having an affair with Monica Lewinsky is purely personal. People were outraged, many thought it was his personal business, and many just didn”t care. Clinton finally acknowledged his affair with Lewinsky on national television by giving his speech to the American public: Now, this matter is between me, the two people I love most — my wife and our daughter — and our God.I must put it right, and I am prepared to do whatever it takes to do so.

Nothing is more important to me personally. But it is private, and I intend to reclaim my family life for my family. It’s nobody’s business but ours. (Kemler) Lewinsky was falling in love with Clinton, being dumped and then becoming the target of a federal case, which drove her mad. “People have no idea what this has done. Behind the name Monica Lewinsky there’s a person and there is a family. And there has been so much pain that has been caused by all this. And it was so destructive” (Hartman).

Even before the scandal turned her life upside down, Lewinsky was in pain; “I don”t have the feelings of self-worth that a woman should have. And that’s hard for me. And I think that’s been a center of a lot of my mistakes and a lot of my pain” (Hartman).

Fifty years from now, when our children and grandchildren are learning about our 46th President, what will the books say? Will they explain how Clinton’s moral hypocrisy divided a country? I find it hard to respect a man who can so easily lie to his citizens, avoid responsibility for his actions, and expect the public to forgive and forget with no real apology.As a result of Clinton’s actions, his every decision is questioned for fear that he is just covering us another lie. Although what Clinton did is not morally right I feel that it is important to look at the positive things that he has done for our country. Like the old saying goes “you have to take the good with the bad. ” If you look past the moral issues and look at what he has done to improve America’s economy you will find that he has done a considerable job. With the deficit that President Reagan and President Bush left him you could probably say that he has done a great job.For the second time in our country existence we had a surplus. This means that our budget was so well organized that we had extra money to spend where we saw fit.

Financially our country was better off now that it has been in the last twenty years. Every year that Clinton has been in office unemployment and welfare has dropped considerably. We may not trust Clinton socially but I know we can trust him financially. “And I’m going to do my best to continue to go through this personal process in an appropriate way, but to do my job, to do the job I was hired to do.And I think it very much needs to be done right now” (Blitzer). Clinton was truly a President to be admired and although the enormous amount he has done for our nation was currently overshadowed by his supposed affair with Monica Lewinsky, this was not what made Clinton successful. Clinton was currently the most underrated President; however, he will be appreciated in the future when people come to realize what he has accomplished for America. But the relationship between Clinton and former White House intern Monica Lewinsky will leave its mark.