Lewinsky should move past infamy
By Jenny Specht
Skiff Staff

Monica Lewinsky is doing her best to remain unforgettable.

America’s most famous former White House intern could give an easy course on “Celebrity for the Young Adult:”

Step 1: Get a job at the White House.

Step 2: Develop a close “working” relationship with the president.
Step 3: Put off taking in your dry cleaning.
Step 4: Talk on the phone a lot.
Step 5: Don’t deny anything.
Step 6: Switch careers … Kate Spade is not the only one who can make handbags.
Step 7: Volunteer for an HBO documentary.

Yet she asserts that she wants to live a “normal” life.

My suggestion would have been to move to France, where berets are not a fashion faux pas, cigars can be smoked anywhere and sex is treated as a much lighter subject. She’s already taken one step across the Atlantic by referring to it as “la scandale.”

But instead, the woman who infiltrated our lives with details of her workplace fling has chosen an unconventional, some might say backwards, route to anonymity. Though she was quoted as saying that her affair with former President Clinton is “all in the past and I’ve really just moved on,” she participated in the filming of a documentary entitled “Monica in Black and White,” to be shown March 3 on HBO.

The documentary contains footage of Monica answering the questions of a panel of college students and HBO staff members. Perhaps she somehow had the idea that these participants would be asking her innocuous questions like, “Monica, what’s your stance on the death penalty?”

How many college students do you know actually care about Monica’s political views or her classes at Columbia University?

The sad thing though, is that we do still care about Monica’s exploits. Obviously the special will be a ratings generator. It has already been publicized in several newsmagazines and on national television, and the release date is more than a month away.

But the original days of scandal are years behind us. Remember the time when newspapers were filled with frivolously sexy stories about the Oval Office and not gruesome tales of the Middle East?

Things were funnier then, albeit for President Clinton. But for American citizens, the sexual happenings of their president were entertainment that has not been provided by current President Bush (although the pretzel incident did bring new life to your mother’s adage to “chew 40 times before you swallow”).

Americans are definitely at fault for the perpetuation of Monica’s infamy. It’s still fascinating. And she is the crowned mistress of media manipulation for prolonging this as long as she can.

One can only imagine the success she’d have at advising falling Hollywood stars on how to stay in the news and increase their recognizability.

American citizens are at fault for succumbing to the seduction of our nation by Monica. But she’s more responsible for continuing to relive the scandal to end all scandals.

It’s time to move on though, Monica, and use your skills on something — or someone — else.

Jenny Specht is a junior English and political science major from Fort Worth.
She can be reached at (j.l.specht@student.tcu.edu).

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