ELItorial: Chips, salsa, and some Bill Clinton

By Peter Smith

I'm sure many American households had an argument last Sunday about which program to put in the smart window on the television. Most weeks, there are only one or two big national news stories that interest the general public. Last week, however, was different. Along with the Unabomber admitting his guilt, two Middle East political leaders coming to Washington, D.C., and the Pope's meeting with Castro in Cuba, there was the annual Super Bowl hype and President Clinton's sex scandal.

The first three events are undoubtedly important and deserve to be front page news, but they fail to capture America's eye in the same manner as the latter two topics. Why? Because the last two are sex and sports, two of the highest forms of American entertainment!

At first glance, one might think that the sex scandal and the Super Bowl are not comparable news stories. I didn't think so either until I took a better look. In the case of the Clinton scandal, former White House aide Linda Tripp is trying to bring down the President over an alleged affair between Clinton and former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. In the Super Bowl, John Elway and the Denver Broncos were trying to bring down the defending champions, the Green Bay Packers. In both cases, there was a very clear battle. Americans love to see a fight.

Perhaps I'm not being very realistic. The Super Bowl is a game, and its result certainly is not going to affect how things are in this country. When it's all over, Clinton's sex controversy, however, will have no real winner. There is no way the public could be positively affected by it. Should the people still have more interest in the Clinton scandal? After all, as citizens of the United States, they have a vested interest in the debate over their head of state's suspected misdeeds.

To answer that question, I looked to a survey recently conducted on America Online. Approximately 50,000 people answered the question, "Which story do you find more interesting?" and just 70 percent said the allegations against the President made for a more interesting story than the Super Bowl.

I cannot decide if this surprises me or not. On one hand, I think America realizes that the President could resign, which would be one of the biggest news stories of the century. On the other hand, I can see the public thinking, "I'm sick of Clinton. We didn't care about his sex scandal with Gennifer Flowers when we elected him in 1992, so why should we care about this one now?"

After all, it is the Super Bowl--the biggest sports game and the most watched event of the year, drawing over 100 million viewers worldwide. It brings people together, it breeds happiness. Parties, friendly bets, and rivalries are everywhere, and no matter who wins, almost everyone will still have a great time watching it.

People can temporarily suspend everything else going on in their lives--monetary debts, relationship problems, or crises at work--and watch something that is just pure enjoyment. Even many non-football fans enjoy the spectacle, because it's an alternative to the low drone of homogenous news headlines. With companies shelling out millions of dollars for commercial slots, it's entertainment in its finest form.

Even though the President's scandal is also a type of entertainment in which Americans would seem to have a greater vested interest, a full 30 percent of the public thinks the Super Bowl is a more compelling news story. Maybe it's not a majority because some people cannot forget how significant the Clinton saga could be for our future. Maybe they have a point. Or, maybe people just need to learn to relax.

Personally, I found the Super Bowl more interesting. Come on, how could I not when it had sneaky manuevers, creative decision making, and dirty physical play? Wait, the Clinton sex scandal did too. Oh well, who am I to judge this affair, anyway?

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