WASHINGTON, January 28: Not betraying any hint of tension and pressure arising from a raging domestic sex scandal, US President Bill Clinton used his State of the Union address to warn Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of impending military action if he continued to defy ``the will of the world''.Amid the traditionally rapturous applause that is reserved for the President on this ceremonial day, Clinton rose above the dark clouds that threatens his Presidency because of his alleged affair with a young White House aide and said he spoke for everyone in the House -- Democrats and Republicans -- in warning Saddam.
``You cannot defy the will of the world. You have used weapons of mass destruction before. We are determined to deny you the capacity to use them again,'' Clinton said in an atmosphere of surreal political theatre no playwright or scriptwriter could have conjured up.
The dire warning to Iraq, coming against the backdrop of the Monica Lewinsky affair, drew parallels to what observers said was a WagThe Dog scenario - a reference to a current movie by that title in which an American President ambushed by a similar scandal deflects public attention by feigning war.But the President's Republican opponents fully endorsed his tough stand against Saddam, saying this was not about the Clinton administration but about all of America. Making an oblique reference to the raging sex scandal, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, who provides the traditional rebuttal to the address said, the Republicans were one with the President on this issue notwithstanding domestic controversies.
Clinton himself did not get anywhere near the scandal in his speech, choosing mainly to address his closest constituency: working parents, especially women, daily wage earners, minorities, immigrants and senior citizens. Conscious of the serious damage the scandal -- and the reckless reporting it had engendered -- has done to his standing, the President spoke directly to the American people in an event that was telecast live during primetime on almost every channel and had an estimated audience of 60 million.
How the President would be received in the Congress on this occasion (somewhat akin to our own President's address to the joint session of Parliament), was to be a barometer of what the scandal has done to the US polity and Clinton himself. As it turned out, the President got a rousing welcome, with the opening applause lasting 150 seconds (as against three minutes last year). Legislators stood up and cheered him 72 times during the hour-long address (compared to 70 times last year), including two standing ovations. The lawmakers also gave a standing ovation to First Lady Hillary Clinton when she entered the chamber.
Although the shadow of the Lewinsky scandal hung over the ceremonial evening, no one dignified it with even an oblique reference or a hoot. Republican lawmakers were civil and several stood up and applauded when he spoke of national endeavours. The President himself addressed issues, eschewing even the traditionalasides and gags. In what was virtually a political manifesto for the coming mid-term election (to the Congress), he spoke of education, trade, welfare, health, campaign reform, urban development, the environment, charting out his vision and proposing spending billions on improving the country.
Declaring these are good times in America and ``our leadership in the world is unrivaled'', Clinton presented a glowing review of a vigorous and prosperous nation and announced: ``The state of the union is strong.'' By dwelling exclusively on substance, Clinton sought to persuade voters to compartmentalise their minds the way he and his wife say they do, setting aside charges and lawsuits and scandals and concentrating on the serious business of Government, political pundit RW Apple of New York Times said. Judging by the poll numbers, he succeeded. One poll showed 74 per cent of viewers were impressed with his address.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
