America has succeeded in humiliating itself

Public disclosure of sexual weaknesses is the worst shame a man can suffer. Does Bill Clinton really deserve this? Palace scandals have always been a way of life with rulers from the times of the kings and nobles to presidents and prime ministers.

Though a bit unimpressive in the beginning, Mr Clinton has been acquitting himself quite credibly to his country and the world.

The Republicans and the Democrats who dislike Mr Clinton would have done well to have given him his due and waited for him to finish the remainder of his term to find a better person to lead America.

By making a humiliating spectacle of him they have only succeeded in lowering the image of America in the eyes of the world and diminished its authority at a time it is most wanted, with the economic recession gripping more and more countries and with fundamentalist forces gaining ground. One gets a feeling that Mr Clinton is more a victim than a lecherous culprit, at least in Monica Lewinsky's case. Kenneth Starr's report says it was a one-sided affair of a star-struck woman who finally got at the President after months of intensive flirting. Mr Clinton's astonishing lack of discretion betrays his vulnerability rather than his brazen lust.

D. VENUGOPAL Hong Kong