Scandal leaves Dems divided
A torrent of sexual abuse allegations against powerful figures in American politics and media has reignited the defining political fight of the 1990s. But this time, the battle is being waged within the ranks of Democrats and their allies, including leaders of the feminist movement.
A growing number now say they were wrong to have so stridently defended former president Bill Clinton against the women who over the years accused him of offences that ranged from groping to exposing his genitals to rape.
The uncomfortable question is whether Democrats then were guilty of the sin they accuse Republicans of committing now by continuing to support President Donald Trump and Alabama Senate nominee Roy Moore, despite allegations of sexual offences. Were they also putting partisanship and their desire to hold on to power above the principles they claim to hold dear?
A remarkable exchange of fire began on Friday when Senator Kirsten Gillibrand – Hillary Clinton’s successor as New York senator, a staunch backer of her presidential campaign and a talked-about presidential possibility – told the New York Times that by today’s standards, the ‘‘appropriate response’’ for Bill Clinton would have been to resign when his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky was revealed in 1998.
That brought a retort from longtime Hillary Clinton aide Philippe Reines on Twitter, in which he dismissed the president’s affair with a subordinate as a ‘‘consensual’’ sex act.
Reines lobbed an additional shot at Gillibrand: ‘‘Over 20 yrs you took the Clintons’ endorsements, money, and seat. Hypocrite. Interesting strategy for 2020 primaries. Best of luck.’’
In a radio interview yesterday, Hillary Clinton deflected a request for a response to Gillibrand’s tweet: ‘‘I don’t exactly know what she was trying to say.’’
During the 1990s, the allegations about the president’s behaviour went far beyond the Lewinsky affair, which led to Bill Clinton’s impeachment after he lied about it under oath during a deposition in a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones. She claimed the state’s then-governor summoned her in 1991 to a hotel room, where he dropped his pants and asked for oral sex.
‘‘I wish I had done more to be supportive of her,’’ said Patricia Ireland, longtime president of the National Organisation for Women, who is now a lawyer in Florida.
‘‘For Paula Jones, there were nice distinctions that people made. She didn’t work for him, he didn’t have the power to hire or fire her. But that ignores the reality that he was a very powerful man.’’
At the time, however, the attitude of many feminist leaders was summed up in a 1998 New York Times op-ed piece by Gloria Steinem, who wrote that ‘‘Mr Clinton seems to have made a clumsy sexual pass, then accepted rejection’’. She was similarly dismissive of other women who came forward with stories of sexual abuse by Clinton.