This book was written in 1998 and deals primarily with the Lewinsky scandal. It focuses on the public's apathy towards the President's legal, ethical, and moral failings. The book is segmented into chapters on Sex, Character, Politics, Ken Starr, Law, and Judgment. Each chapter begins with some common defenses the Clinton apologists would espouse about the Lewinsky affair. Bennett then answers each with his usual no-nonsense approach. A lot of his opinions center around the fact that the public really doesn't seem to care about what our elected officials do while in office. If the economy's good and we're not at war, then we can look the other way. He also does a good job in comparing and contrasting Lewinsky and Watergate. Not so much the actual crimes committed, but the underlying behavior and character flaws in the two men.

This would have been an excellent read in late 1998 while this topic was fresh. At this time, at least for me, this has been hashed and rehashed. I knew (or at least had heard) a lot of the debunking of the Clinton defenders. It was good to see things from a sociological point of view. How an accepted behavior can lead to a "dumbing down" in what's expected of future leaders.

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