Lee Dresselhaus / L’Observateur / January 26, 2000

So. I see that everyone’s favorite loose woman, Monica Lewinsky, is nowgainfully employed in a high profile job. And, of course, I have someobservations to make about that and the fact that money seems to come not only with fame these days, but with notoriety as well.

Monica is now a spokesperson for the Jenny Craig weight loss thing, and I understand they are paying her a large chunk (no pun intended) of money just to get up in front of a camera and tell people how she lost weight with their system. I have a question for the Jenny Craig genius that cameup with that one.

What were you thinking? This is not a celebrity. This is not a star. This is not even someone mostpeople would have over for dinner.

This is someone who got caught having illicit sex with a man who was not only married, he happened to be the President of the United States, and a government very nearly toppled because of it. It’s only because BillClinton happens to slipperier than a greased eel and Ken Starr was an incompetent keyhole peeper that the Executive branch of the government didn’t fall apart like a cheap suitcase. And we would have been stuck withAl Gore as president, the very idea of which gives me the shivers. Butthat’s another story.

The Jenny Craig people seem to think that Monica is suitable person to represent their product. Yikes. It’s amazing that we live in a time when getting caught doing what Monica was doing to Bill not only makes you famous or notorious it makes you rich. Despite what you or I may think of the whole Monica/Clinton debacle,from this point forward their little tryst will have to be considered a success no matter which way you look at it. It made him happy, it willmake her rich. He got away with it, she will get some serious bucks.The reputation she managed to glean from the encounter will have no affect on her future it seems, or at least not a negative one as far as her bank account is concerned. Now she’s smiling for the cameras when just ageneration ago she would have been living in shame somewhere in the Canadian Rockies hoping nobody ever found her. Go figure.We’ve lowered our standards, folks. A bunch.She also wrote a book. It didn’t sell all that well, but she got a big fat (nopun intended this time either) advance on it, so that’s not her problem. Shegot a check, and a nice one at that.

And if I’m not mistaken, I think they auctioned off the stained dress for six figures or so, didn’t they? Although whoever bought it and paid that kind of money for it evidently has issues they need to deal with. But that,too, is another story.

But now heres’ a twist to the whole thing. What would you do in the samesituation? At what point would your values stop being a consideration and your checkbook become the focus of your actions? There is an old saying that everybody has their price. What would yours ormine be? Like it or not, just about everybody has a threshold where dignity and morals cease to be factor in the decision making process, or at least become afterthoughts, and decisions are based on the stark reality of the above mentioned checkbook.

Monica has evidently decided that her values are in the seven-figure range.

Well, I have to say that if the offer was right, I’d probably reconsider my present set of values also. Most likely you would too. What? Not me, yousay? What would you do for a million dollars? Remember the movie where the rich guy played by Robert Redford offered the couple a million dollars for one night with the hot wife? They agonized over the decision, then reluctantly agreed. After all, it was Robert Redford. But, they changedtheir minds and in the end their morals more or less won out, but only after some serious crawfishing. Know why? It wasn’t enough money. If Robert Redford had offered five million, or 10million, there would have been a lot less agonizing and a lot more celebrating about the whole thing. For $10 million, it could have beenQuasimodo who made the offer and for most people, it would have been a tough one to refuse. Frankly, for $10 million, I’d give seriousconsideration to holding hands with old Quasi and skipping through the park like the sugar plum fairy. Payment in advance, of course. I’d get overit as soon as I checked my bank balance.

Granted, Monica didn’t get paid up front for her little act of kindness to Bill, but she sure has taken advantage of her sudden notoriety.

But before we get too critical of the opportunities she created for herself because of it, we should think again. We all have our price, whether its setup front, ala Redford, or later, ala Monica.

For Monica, and for most of the rest of us, it’s only a moral question until the offer becomes realistic.

Then it’s just a matter of opportunity.

LEE DRESSELHAUS is a regular columnist for L’Observateur.

Copyright © 1998, Wick Communications, Inc.

Internet services provided by NeoSoft.

Best viewed with 3.0 or higher