Letters

BILL CLINTON IN CRISIS

Americans elected a President, not a Pope. Everybody should just leave the man alone and let him do his job! DAVID GRIMES Conway, Ark.

What President Bill Clinton and White House intern Monica Lewinsky may or may not have done does not interest me in the least [SPECIAL REPORT, Feb. 2]. The Orwellian qualities and nightmarish implications of the investigation and the media coverage make me sick. An independent counsel is allowed to spend years and more than $30 million of the taxpayers' money and use underhanded methods like taping close friends. Yet all this results in something that is not proved and is very, very private. Then the media jump on the story as if it were the start of World War III. Why expose and speculate on the private life and conversations of Lewinsky? The target should be America's sick legal system and the lack of ethics of the media. JOHN PETER HERNES Stavanger, Norway

Every time I get closer to admiring the achievements of Clinton, he does something to foul the air. With this latest charge of a sexual liaison, I'm wondering why I voted for him twice. Here is a skilled player who was an easy catch away from certain greatness. Now he has dropped the ball. For him there will be no place on Mount Rushmore. TED RASHKOW Skokie, Ill.

It is amazing that when President Clinton is facing his version of the Cuban missile crisis in the standoff with Iraq, he is being subjected to harassment about whether he had sexual relations with Lewinsky. It is potentially disastrous that the leadership of the Western world is in the hands of what appears to be a democracy gone mad. IAN ELLIOTT Reigate, England

If the moon had exploded, the stock market had crashed and Saddam Hussein had assassinated Castro and kidnapped the Pope, nobody would be aware of it. The domination of the news by the Clinton scandal was total. Maybe special prosecutor Kenneth Starr and Lewinsky's pal Linda Tripp will finally satisfy Americans' insatiable thirst for titillation and dirt. The name Tripp will surely live in infamy and replace Brutus as the archetypal betrayer. NORMAN GRONWOLD Norcross, Minn.

President Clinton has been accused of an obsession with sex, but who's really obsessed? The American people. We are far more interested in the sex life of the President than in his performance of the job we elected him to. MARJORIE C. STOUT Amherst, Mass.

Kennedy, Eisenhower and Roosevelt all had affairs; all were considered competent Presidents; all fulfilled their obligation to the country. Why don't we let President Clinton do his job and not allow this sordid affair to divert America from its real concerns? LILYAN P. ATKINS Wilmington, Del.

Americans elected a clever snake-oil salesman who promised dreams but delivered a nightmare. Clinton should leave Washington and sail into the sunset on a ship like the Titanic. FRANK R. GAMMARDELLA Fort Myers, Fla.

A year from now, whether Clinton did or did not have an extramarital relationship won't affect anyone. But the entire nation will still feel the impact of having a strong economy. If I were Clinton's adviser, I would stick to the campaign slogan "It's the economy, stupid!" JORGE VILLELA Mexico City

Instead of peeking into Clinton's bedroom, let's look at his record. He works hard to improve education, health care and the environment. The U.S. has one of the strongest economies in its history. We need Bill Clinton. We do not need Kenneth Starr, a man who has wasted tens of millions of dollars pursuing a personal obsession. SHARON ROSE Menlo Park, Calif.

I am appalled by the spectacle of the U.S. drowning in a sea of petty, malicious gossip. President Clinton has been a compassionate and effective leader. Return Starr to earning an honest living. Let Paula Jones gossip with her neighbors over the back fence. Encourage the Christian right to study the New Testament, not just the Old. WERNER C. STURM Scotch Plains, N.J.

I am a moralist, and I think the President of the U.S. should be a moral man and reflect that morality in his professional and private life. Time will tell if these allegations are true or false. Either way, it is a tragedy. MOLLY SCHROEPFER Dallas

Why would Americans be interested in crippling their own President? Should not the top man remain immune from civil lawsuits while taking care of the nation's problems? MAHMOUD K. WAZZAN Beirut

On English buses we are not allowed to talk to the driver while he is behind the wheel. President Clinton is the leader of the most powerful country in the world. He has managed the U.S. economy with skill and in general improved the lot of Americans. Whenever there is a major crisis in the world, people look to him to step in and try to find a solution. He deserves the full support of the people while he is in office. Please, Americans, don't distract the driver. VALERIE WALKER Stanmore, England

What a cast of characters: a White House intern suspected of having a relationship with the President and quoted as saying she has lied her entire life; an ex-White House secretary who makes a habit of "befriending" women who claim to have had intimate encounters with the President; a political spy turned tell-all literary agent who counsels the secretary; and a special prosecutor who arranges for undercover taping of the intern's private conversations about her sex life because they might have some bearing on his investigations. Is there anyone with integrity in Washington? JEANNIE WURZ Bern, Switzerland

AND ALL THAT SLEAZE

Your "Monica and Bill" cover hit a new low [Feb. 2]. It belongs on supermarket racks with the sleaze magazines. DORIS L. STARR Walden, N.Y.

As a top weekly newsmagazine, TIME should set an example. When the facts and truth come forward, will they be on your cover also? HELEN STANTON Conway, Ark.

Now is the time for the politicians of America to begin examining the sexual lives of reporters. KATHY ECKLES-HOOKER Flagstaff, Ariz.

What's your next Special Report? A list of Congressmen who are fooling around with staff members? DOUG WALKER Asheville, N.C.

Can someone explain why Americans, and the U.S. media in particular, work so hard to elect a President and then spend the next few years trying to bring him down with gossip and innuendo? There are always going to be people who either are jealous of his success or want to hang onto his coattails--it has ever been thus. But let the President get on with the business of his country. He seems to be doing a fine job. Americans, be thankful that you have a great country, and stop trying to tear it apart. ANN NEILSON London, Ont.

The media have elevated unsubstantiated gossip, political rumors and spite to the front page day after day. Have serious journalists suddenly enrolled en masse in the National Enquirer's School of Journalism? Any future President will be the subject of "professional" investigations by special prosecutors with unlimited public funds at their disposal, not because the President has done anything wrong but in the partisan hope that he will. Why not let the people decide, and elect not only a President but also a "presidential prosecutor"? ELIAS SNAELAND JONSSON, Editor in Chief Dagur Reykjavik

WHAT'S WITH AMERICANS AND SEX?

Remember the tale of the emperor who wore no clothes? Only the innocent saw that he was naked. If all the so-called good people in America dropped their sanctimonious attitudes [SPECIAL REPORT, Feb. 2], maybe public figures like the President would be able to tell the truth. Americans, take responsibility and grow up. Life is not a box of chocolates. You will get the truth when you are ready to deal with it. DIANE CUNNINGHAM Baulkham Hills, Australia

This witch-hunt is absurd and puerile. Isn't what Clinton does in the White House as President more important than what he has done or is doing with consenting adult females? Clinton is by far the best President in decades. Perhaps that's the problem. If the conspirators get their way, will the next President have to sign an affidavit about whom he or she has ever slept with? NORMAN JONES London

Italian politicians are cunning enough to have all the money and women they want. There's no punishment for that in our country. FEDERICO PASQUARE Milan

Will Americans destroy Clinton just because he has a roving eye? As long as he is doing a great job as President, what he does in bed should be the concern of no one except Hillary. KESHAV B. KALE Pune, India

MADE IN THE U.S.A.?

I take pride in buying garments labeled MADE IN THE U.S.A. and choose them over others. But the appalling conditions you described on the U.S. territory of Saipan [AMERICAN SCENE, Feb. 2], with underpaid immigrant garment laborers working 18 hours a day in foreign-run factories, make me ask, Where is the incentive to support the production of so-called MADE IN THE U.S.A. goods? I am horrified that we allow such sweatshop practices. ALICIA POWERS Truckee, Calif.

The Northern Mariana Islands has had its share of developmental problems with the garment industry. But we have worked to resolve them and enable the much maligned industry to enjoy relative stability over the past several years. For the U.S. Interior Department to threaten a federal takeover of immigration and labor controls because the N.M.I. does not necessarily agree with its warped findings is no reason to believe federalization will be a magic cure for developmental problems. Our people are guaranteed the right to self-government, including the right to "progressive economic self-sufficiency." The U.S. aims to force a Puerto Rico-style economy on the N.M.I. JOHN S. DELROSARIO JR. Former Resident Executive Indigenous Affairs Office Commonwealth of the N.M.I. Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands

The $1 billion in clothing exported by the N.M.I., including Saipan, to the U.S., much of it bearing the MADE IN THE U.S.A. label despite having no U.S. content and no U.S. labor in its assembly, puts the Northern Marianas on a par as an exporter with countries like Canada and Thailand. Competition from this territory has contributed to the loss of more than 100,000 U.S. apparel jobs over the past two years. And in 1998 the U.S. taxpayer will lose $250 million in revenue forgone on tariffs. How much longer can we afford to let the N.M.I. abuse its territorial status? JOHN M. SPRATT JR., U.S. Representative 5th District, South Carolina Washington

Garment factories, wherever they operate, will always be sweatshops. The bottom line depends on whatever manufacturers and buyers can squeeze out of the market. The immigrants who work in the N.M.I. come here to make money for their families back home. They work, they get paid and they send home money. Not one alien has arrived illegally in the U.S. by way of the N.M.I. Many of the so-called violations are of federal law, yet the U.S. government has very little presence here. We feel that the Federal Government, not the states, has the responsibility to uphold its laws. ANTONIO R. CABRERA Former Secretary of Finance Commonwealth of the N.M.I. Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

I read with great interest Joel Stein's absurd comment that I publish "sleazy" books [PEOPLE, Feb. 2] and yearned to understand the root of his sentiments. Taking a leaf from TIME's book, I called Stein for a "Q&A."

Q. May I call you Joel?

A. Oh, yes.

Q. I've done books by Peggy Noonan, Robert Bork, Christopher Darden, Wally Lamb, Douglas Coupland, Dr. Barry Sears and many others. What inspired you to say I publish sleazy books?

A. Uh, I guess Howard Stern and Rush Limbaugh.

Q. Did you read their books?

A. Yeah, I read Howard Stern's. I love Howard Stern.

Q. Would you characterize him as sleazy?

A. Well, he writes about sex.

Q. Sex? Is the subject of sex sleazy? TIME does stories about Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. And you think Stern's musings about sex are sleazy?

A. No, I think he's funny.

Q. But you used the word sleazy! And my son said the librarian at school told him his mother publishes sleazy books! Don't you think you owe me an apology?

A. Yeah, I guess. JUDITH REGAN, President and Publisher Regan Books New York City

O.K. We apologize.

AFTERMATH OF THE POPE'S VISIT

When he returned to the Vatican after his triumphant visit to Cuba [WORLD, Feb. 2], Pope John Paul II likened his pilgrimage to his first trip back to his native Poland. We can only hope the Cubans who have endured communism for 39 years will eventually experience the same positive results the Poles did. If history repeats itself and Cuba follows the example of Poland, Castro's evil empire will also fall. STEPHEN HILLEY Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

CLARIFICATION

In our story on Kenneth Starr's investigation [SPECIAL REPORT, Feb. 16], TIME inaccurately described the job of Kris Engskov. He is the President's aide; his duties include traveling with the President, managing his schedule and ensuring that his briefing materials are complete. We regret the mischaracterization.