On Presidential Terms

On Presidential Terms
The Clinton-Lewinsky Issue Heats Up Debate in Political Science Course on Presidency
BY PHILIP MONTGOMERY
Rice News Staff
March 12, 1998

By mid-January, when Rice students attended the first day of Paul Brace’s class
on the presidency, an independent counsel had already been investigating the
Clintons for four years. Washington, D.C., and the nation seemed to be facing
more of the same.

But an incredible storm was brewing that soon changed all that.

When Kenneth Starr, Whitewater independent counsel, announced on Jan. 21 that
President Clinton may have committed perjury, the winds blowing through Washington,
D.C., whipped up a tornado of interest that hasn’t subsided since. Monica Lewinsky,
a former White House intern, is now a household name.

Since that January day, Rice students in "Poli318: The Presidency"
have been eyeballing the presidency like a lab experiment running for their
benefit.

The class is intended to make students aware of major issues regarding the
presidency and the relationship of the office to public opinion and public policy,
according to the course description. By the end of the course, students are
expected to have a good understanding of the office and an enriched theoretical
interpretation of executive politics.

The topics covered in the course schedule include the historical presidency,
public opinion and approval, elections and public policy.

What students are learning is that the presidency, from the inner circle of
advisers to public opinion, is complicated, unwieldy and more than one person
can control.

Throughout February, underlying the class discussion were stories from newspapers,
television, radio and the Web about the alleged Clinton-Lewinsky affair. While
the students studied the presidency, political pundits predicted Clinton might
resign.

"Wolf Blitzer gets on TV in front of the White House and says, ‘President
Clinton is going to resign because he’s been having an affair,’" Brace,
professor of political science, told his class.

Blitzer’s commentary allowed Brace to point out how differently the press treats
the private lives of presidents today compared to more than 30 years ago.

"Every journalist in Washington, D.C., knew what Kennedy was up to, right?"
said Brace, referring to the sexual escapades of President John F. Kennedy.
"Reporters never reported it. Can you imagine a situation [today] where
one journalist has one little shred of evidence that [he] won’t report?"

During a recent class, students learned some facts about approval ratings including
how some incidents, such as the seizure of U.S. hostages in Tehran during Jimmy
Carter’s presidency, send a president’s approval rating soaring only to plummet
shortly thereafter.

A New York Times and CBS News poll reported Feb. 24 that the president’s overall
job approval rating was 68 percent despite the Lewinsky scandal. A more recent
poll shows his ratings soaring to 73 percent. The Times cited public satisfaction
with the economy and the direction of the nation as factors that drive the positive
ratings.

"Presidential approval has been going up despite the scandals," said
Peter Irot, a Sid Richardson sophomore. "[Clinton] seems to be bucking
the system. His approvals [ratings] keep going up. I think it is interesting
that nothing we have discussed in this class really explains why his approval
ratings went up."

Mention of Clinton’s soaring approval ratings caused Brace to throw up his
hands. His only explanation was that as long as the economy is good, people
don’t care about the scandals.

When asked how the Monica Lewinsky scandal will play out, Brace said, "It’s
basically tea leaves at this time."

But in the meantime, the scandal and the presidency in crisis sure spice up
Poli318.