Monica Lewinsky performs another disservice...to herself
Monica Lewinsky is jumping on the "Me Too" campaign but is getting a poor reception from women who turned to her for help at a time Bill Clinton was occupying the White House.
Monica wasn't exactly a member of the "Me Too" sisterhood when a much maligned victim asked for her testimony to mount a legal case against the (then) world's most powerful serial predator, President Clinton. Paula Jones and her legal team turned to Monica for assistance and were treated to an impenetrable wall of lies (at the time), made all the more infuriating when packaged in legal jargon by high-priced attorneys.
"I have never had a sexual relationship with the president." Monica openly lied in an extensive affidavit prepared by her legal team. "[The president] did not propose that we have a sexual relationship," she continued. "I have the utmost respect for the President who has always behaved appropriately in my presence[.]" In a last embarrassing note, Monica insisted she "did not possess any information relevant to the case" or "possible admissible evidence." Apparently, the Gap dress hadn't made headlines yet.
Many of us in the sisterhood do, in fact, cringe on behalf of Monica. But we may be less inclined to feel sympathetic toward the former intern, who is reopening the door to facts not previously well known in this sordid tale.
In this instance, Paula Jones was left to her own resources and found herself drowning in the deep end of a pool of deniers.
All the while, Jones was being mercilessly denigrated by the mainstream media – everything from unkind remarks about her physical appearance to her modest socioeconomic background. "If you drag a $100 bill through a trailer park," said Clinton loyalist James Carville, "you never know what you'll find." Carville's attempt to humiliate the victim failed to hit its mark with the public in a case about the powerful taking advantage of the weak. Paula was a low-wage employee of the State of Arkansas at the time of the alleged incident.
There are new moral indictments against Monica from Juanita Broaddrick, who claims she was raped by the former president. "Better late than never Monica Lewinsky's ME TOO," wrote Broaddrick, now 74, on social media. "I have always felt sad for you, but where were you when we needed you? Your silence was deafening in the 90s when Kathleen [Willey] Paula and I needed your voice."
All things considered, Paula's story broke at the wrong time in the wrong social climate. Her case of abuse was to gain little sympathy or credibility from a liberal media.
Perhaps that's the reason Gennifer Flowers – who claimed to have had a 12-year affair with Clinton – asserted she could not corroborate Jones's allegations of the president having "distinguishing characteristics" in his genital area. To be fair, Gennifer had her own problems at the time. She was the subject of smear tactics by the former first lady, Hillary Clinton. "Trailer trash" was a term used by Hillary to sum up the attractive Flowers. And "some failed cabaret singer who doesn't even have much of a résumé to fall back on," added Hillary in an ABC News interview.
Nonetheless, Flowers got off easier than Lewinsky. Although Monica could not be dubbed "trailer trash," having been raised in Beverly Hills, Hillary took aim at her personality, reducing the young intern to a "narcissistic loony toon."
None of us expects Hillary to demonstrate a shred of remorse or humility in the wake of the "Me Too" predator story, sparked by Harvey Weinstein and being reported ad nauseam worldwide. Hillary is Hillary. And no one expects the former arrogant first lady – who is well known for being a serial people-abuser – to apologize for further victimizing the victims.
Hopefully, Monica is different. We can reserve a modicum of optimism that she will demonstrate restraint and true refinement of character – something she failed to do while abusing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at the White House.
Lewinsky could actually come forward as a victim of her own folly who wishes to make amends to those she failed in the process of failing herself.