Scandalgate: Exposing America's Moral Deficit Disorder

by Kenneth J. Brown

" 'We the people" don't elect our presidents to be our moral leaders. We'd probably give the president low marks in the morals department, but then we don't see him as our moral leader. He was elected... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1884067077
• ISBN13: 9781884067075
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Adroit Press
• Weight: 0.39 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Bravo

Finally, a book that acknowlleges people did not "allow" Clinton to do whatever he wanted because they were bribed or threatened, but because he was no different from other presidents and we are no different from him. I am sick and tired of the right wing perpetually lambasting us, the American public, about Clinton's morals when they also lack a perfect personal track reccord. Although all of this was exposed in the now infamous witch hunt, the Republicans kept on plugging, happily oblivious to the actual desires of the American public While there is no doubt what Clinton did was wrong, the American public realized that the best person to handle it was the president and his family. This was never on par with international espionage or other matters that would have actually warranted a constitutional crisis.

A great read about President Clinton and moral values

Mr. Brown clearly explains why the American people give President Clinton such high approval ratings: It's because the American people (to some extent) share his values--that whatever a person does privately is his or her own business.The quote on the back cover from a USA Today writer sums this ethic up best: "`We the people' don't elect our presidents to be our moral leaders. We'd probably give the president low marks in the morals department, but then we don't see him as our moral leader. He was elected to run the country. We'll worry about our morals ourselves, thank you very much."Mr. Brown examines what causes us to give our leaders "a pass" on issues involving morality, showing that the morality of our leadership is a mirror image of the morality and virtues of "we the people." In fact, as he points out, it is actually the "amoral" precept of our postmodern political culture that is at issue--that a person's private conduct doesn't shape his conduct in a public office. The American people have been willing to serve as the president's co-conspirator in his role as First Sex Addict. The line of reasoning, as Mr. Brown points out, is "If `we the people' tolerated this behavior in former presidents, how can we confront this president on the same issue?" This quote on the back cover says it pretty well: "Are we the people content to have a president with a low moral aptitude? If the president of the United States is guilty of using women and then trashing them, should he be allowed to get away with this? If President Clinton has taken his inspiration from John Kennedy and this travesty is the result, what will it be like when future leaders of postmodern America take their inspiration from him?"What really makes the book interesting is that it is full of quotes from friends and associates of Mr. Clinton--quotes that are pretty caustic and not to kind to the President. For instance, Katie Couric on the Today Show said, "How is it this intelligent, ambitious, politically savvy man can be so foolhardy and such a slave to his libido?"And there are several great quotes from George Stephanopoulos, including "Right now, I don't know whether to be angry, sad or both. But if the Lewinsky charges are valid, I know this: I'm livid. It's a terrible waste of years of work by thousands of people with the support of millions more."Probably one of the best, though, is from the liberal syndicated columnist Ellen Goodman: "Why haven't the soccer moms decided to throw Clinton out of the (White) House? Why are the Democratic women pols who shot off their mouths about Clarence Thomas holding their tongues about Bill? And, above all, why aren't feminists who put sexual harassment on the office bulletin board standing by their Monica?"This is a really great read--and a fast read as well!