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	One aspect I think Andrew Ross missed is the issue of whether President Clinton can any longer contribute anything to governing that Vice President Gore cannot. If the president were to resign, would we miss him? Is there anything unique that only he can contribute? And, if because of Al Gore, there is not, what is at issue here is nothing more than the president's personal need to try to rehabilitate himself and his reputation. This is not a good enough reason for the rest of us Democrats, or for other Americans, to want the president to stay on. So let him free us all by pardoning himself and then resigning. And let him rehabilitate himself by helping to raise money for Democratic congressional campaigns in the fall and for Gore's presidential campaign in 2000. That is a far better and less selfish alternative than two more years of acrimony over whether he really did commit perjury in the Paula Jones case, or obstruction in the aftermath. And it is far better than endless litigation over executive prerogatives in the present climate of congressional/judicial bullying of the presidency. -- Joseph M. Firestone Kate Moses' article was excellent. I agree particularly with the point that the men are denigrating Hillary and all wives when they say how humiliated she should feel. Why should she feel humiliated? Bill is the one who had sex with someone other than his spouse. This "humiliation" label is yet another example of how men put women in their place. Anger I could understand, but "humiliating" is defined by Webster's Collegiate as "extremely destructive to one's self-respect or dignity." What did Hillary do that has anything to do with her own self-respect or dignity? Is the fact that she is going to stay with him for whatever her own personal reasons a loss in self-respect? If forgiveness is her motive, is that not an act of dignity? Humility is an emotion used when you feel something you did is less than what you believe others would or should expect from yourself. She could, of course, feel embarrassment for her husband's conduct, or as Ms. Moses put it, his self-destructive streak. But she should not feel humility and anyone who says she should is making a derogatory statement about women. -- Jim Cady Exactly what state does Andrew Ross live in, that a 21-year-old woman is considered "barely a legal adult"? I remember the age of consent being somewhere around 16 in most states. I was certainly an adult at 18, when I became allowed to vote, buy guns and join the military. A 21-year-old is almost out of college. I suspect we both know of some 21-year-olds who have already made their first million. This is not to say that all 21-year-olds are mature -- but they are responsible for their own actions. As for the position expressed in his editorial, well, we all have our standards of moral outrage. I am looking forward to Ross' next editorial, though, where he calls for the posthumous resignation of both Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, each of whom appears to have had extramarital affairs during FDR's term. (Their case is very instructive when trying to understand married life between two powerful and independent political figures.) Then you can nail JFK on one of a hundred different counts. We don't want a president who swears like a sailor (LBJ) or indulges in race- and Jew-baiting (Nixon, I believe). We should carefully investigate Ronald Reagan's divorce, as well as Newt Gingrich's. Where have you been on the Sen. Kennedy issue -- from now on, I expect one flaming editorial a week until he resigns over that Chappaquiddick thing! And Vice President Quayle should have been impeached when he bought an obscene doll in South America and cheerfully showed it off to his press entourage. You know, extrapolating a bit from what little we know of Abe Lincoln's unhappy married life, we might even be able to get something juicy on him if we sent Ken Starr back in a time machine, like the Terminator. My own moral compass thinks it's a sad state of affairs in America when killing innocent Iraqi civilians, as Clinton did in his senseless 1992 bombing, doesn't even warrant an apology, yet when he has an "inappropriate relationship" with a willing adult woman it warrants a resignation. -- Michael Booth I just finished reading Kate Moses' article, and I must say that I believe you have hit the proverbial nail on the head. Before I read your article I was feeling a bit beat up and disgusted over this whole (four-year plus) senseless ordeal. Perhaps our backward, puritanical, gossipy society just might be growing up. I find it most trying to be living in an omnipresent state of societal puberty constantly being bludgeoned to death by self-serving hypocritical know-it-alls. As you have so rightly pointed out, we're all just humans trying to get along with each other. I think your perspective goes a long way toward helping to explain why President Clinton's poll numbers are so high even after his "I did it but they didn't play fair" speech. In fact he's not doing nor telling us anything new. Perhaps those of us who try to live in the real world, see the big picture and believe in doing our own thinking and forming our own opinions just might be the real silent majority. A dream? A wish? Possibly. Or maybe now is the perfect time for all of us to grow up a bit and start acting our age. One can only hope. -- Douglas Lowenkron Folsom, Calif. I hope that the goody-goody men and women, politicians or not, get down from their pulpits and admit that Mr. and Mrs. Clinton are mere mortals and should be allowed to have a private life and solve their problems as such. I am a Republican and am truly ashamed for the way the Republican Party has acted in this matter. I believe that Mr. Starr should have his past investigated and show the American people what he really is. It is not good. -- Jerry Fitzpatrick The second paragraph in today's article hits the nail right on the head. The "perjury trap" and victimizing innocent people into nervous and mental breakdowns is a deplorable abuse of our legal system. These tactics are used every day by attorneys, whether serving in the capacity of pumping money out of civil litigation or serving the political interests of certain individuals while on a grand jury. Perhaps now, with such public attention focused on this abuse, the powers-at-hand have revealed their secret weapon, thus making it far less effective. Thank you for putting into words what had been on my mind ever since Ken Starr reared his ugly head. -- Jim Crotty Salt Lake City SALON | Aug. 24, 1998

R E C E N T L Y+| GENERAL REACTIONS TO CLINTON'S MEA CULPA

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