The Ignorance of 21
I was 22 when I went to Washington, D.C. It was then, during my five month stay at 101 Constitution Ave that I realized something about old men and young girls.
Not all men are my father. And not all men are going to treat me as they would a daughter.
There were rumors about which Congressmen hired interns based on hair color, skirt length, giddiness, etc. Why some Senators had more girls than boys stuffing their envelopes and answering their phones. We had a pool, one of my first nights there, about which intern living in our house (there were 15 of us) would end up in The Hill (the Congressional newspaper) first. Our bets were on the girl from South Carolina, and she pretty much thought so too. (Point of note ... none of us made it in the paper the fall - much to our chagrin.)
I saw Senator Trent Lott in the tunnels between the Capitol and the Dirksen building. He winked at me. And it didn't ... well it just wasn't right. They were ... well a lot of them were creepy old men.
It was in this enviornment that I realized a very painful fact.
Monica Lewinsky was a child. She was 21 years old when the President took advantage of her. I realized he had, in fact, taken advantage of her when I was first introduced to Senator Frist. It was like being in the presence of ... a hero. Someone that with words could make everyone in the room listen. Someone who spoke about issues that we all cared about. Someone who had years of experience, education, hundreds of followers, a beautiful wife, smart, well-mannered, educated children ... it was awe inspiring. I remembered, in one of the anti-rooms of the Capitol building, with walls that were painted in earliest part of the century, there was a breakfast, and Senator Frist was talking about what bills he was bringing to the floor. It was ... amazing. Not only are you drunk off the fact that you are standing in the middle of a room that was built hundreds of years earlier, that our founding fathers had stood in before, but one of the leaders of the free world is speaking and you're standing ten feet away.
I can not imagine what it would be like to be in the presence of the President of the United States. Even one I didn't vote for. The most powerful man in the world, he speaks to you, seems to listen to you, seems to desire you. I can only imagine how hard it might be to argue with him about something simple like the grass being green, let alone anything else. I think if he said all grass was purple, if asked in person I might just say ... "well you know I haven't seen all the grass in all the world, you're probably right."
Monica Lewinsky was 21 years old.
She wasn't an idiot. Most Interns are heavily vetted and have to have some form of education. Or are aspiring to an education. And White House interns even more so.
I am so sorry for her. President Clinton paid a hefty price for his dallliance, but he has gone on to make an income, take speaking engagements, write a book, travel, be an ambassador ... What can Monica do? She left the country for a while. But every where she goes is the butt of the world's most public joke. He engaged in a relationship with her and on an international level made her look little more than strumpet who persued him and annoyed him.
And on the View today, Barbara Walters chastized Joy Behar for making fun of her, and Elizabeth Hasselbeck condemed her with the line "But that’s what happens when you make decisions that affect your future."
I agree, but how could Monica have said no? The President of the free world persued her, courted her, said he valued her in some way. I don't want to go into it too much ... I just feel so badly for her. In public life, if a company's leader performed in a similar manner, people would be fired, restitution would be made. But I don't think that's what happened here.
She was a child. And I didn't realize (I was 17 when the news broke) how much of a child she was until I was an intern, and saw my own niavette and my own ignorances. And realized just a little bit of what she must have been feeling.
I can't control what comics write or what jokes they tell on late night. But I do understand why Barbara thinks it's wrong to poke fun at Monica. For all the jokes, for all the scandal, for all the mistakes she may have made, at that heart of it all, she was a 21 year old girl who had a crush on the most powerful man in the world, and he took advantage of her. He was 49 years old. And she was 21. I believe she had an honest crush, and in this respect, he was a dirty old man.
Not all men are my father. And not all men are going to treat me as they would a daughter.
There were rumors about which Congressmen hired interns based on hair color, skirt length, giddiness, etc. Why some Senators had more girls than boys stuffing their envelopes and answering their phones. We had a pool, one of my first nights there, about which intern living in our house (there were 15 of us) would end up in The Hill (the Congressional newspaper) first. Our bets were on the girl from South Carolina, and she pretty much thought so too. (Point of note ... none of us made it in the paper the fall - much to our chagrin.)
I saw Senator Trent Lott in the tunnels between the Capitol and the Dirksen building. He winked at me. And it didn't ... well it just wasn't right. They were ... well a lot of them were creepy old men.
It was in this enviornment that I realized a very painful fact.
Monica Lewinsky was a child. She was 21 years old when the President took advantage of her. I realized he had, in fact, taken advantage of her when I was first introduced to Senator Frist. It was like being in the presence of ... a hero. Someone that with words could make everyone in the room listen. Someone who spoke about issues that we all cared about. Someone who had years of experience, education, hundreds of followers, a beautiful wife, smart, well-mannered, educated children ... it was awe inspiring. I remembered, in one of the anti-rooms of the Capitol building, with walls that were painted in earliest part of the century, there was a breakfast, and Senator Frist was talking about what bills he was bringing to the floor. It was ... amazing. Not only are you drunk off the fact that you are standing in the middle of a room that was built hundreds of years earlier, that our founding fathers had stood in before, but one of the leaders of the free world is speaking and you're standing ten feet away.
I can not imagine what it would be like to be in the presence of the President of the United States. Even one I didn't vote for. The most powerful man in the world, he speaks to you, seems to listen to you, seems to desire you. I can only imagine how hard it might be to argue with him about something simple like the grass being green, let alone anything else. I think if he said all grass was purple, if asked in person I might just say ... "well you know I haven't seen all the grass in all the world, you're probably right."
Monica Lewinsky was 21 years old.
She wasn't an idiot. Most Interns are heavily vetted and have to have some form of education. Or are aspiring to an education. And White House interns even more so.
I am so sorry for her. President Clinton paid a hefty price for his dallliance, but he has gone on to make an income, take speaking engagements, write a book, travel, be an ambassador ... What can Monica do? She left the country for a while. But every where she goes is the butt of the world's most public joke. He engaged in a relationship with her and on an international level made her look little more than strumpet who persued him and annoyed him.
And on the View today, Barbara Walters chastized Joy Behar for making fun of her, and Elizabeth Hasselbeck condemed her with the line "But that’s what happens when you make decisions that affect your future."
I agree, but how could Monica have said no? The President of the free world persued her, courted her, said he valued her in some way. I don't want to go into it too much ... I just feel so badly for her. In public life, if a company's leader performed in a similar manner, people would be fired, restitution would be made. But I don't think that's what happened here.
She was a child. And I didn't realize (I was 17 when the news broke) how much of a child she was until I was an intern, and saw my own niavette and my own ignorances. And realized just a little bit of what she must have been feeling.
I can't control what comics write or what jokes they tell on late night. But I do understand why Barbara thinks it's wrong to poke fun at Monica. For all the jokes, for all the scandal, for all the mistakes she may have made, at that heart of it all, she was a 21 year old girl who had a crush on the most powerful man in the world, and he took advantage of her. He was 49 years old. And she was 21. I believe she had an honest crush, and in this respect, he was a dirty old man.
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