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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 22, 1992                   TAG: 9202240195
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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PREOCCUPIED WITH POLITICIANS' PRIVATE LIVES

ENOUGH! When will we Americans mature and abandon our juvenile preoccupation with the personal private lives of our politicians?

Bill Clinton said that he and his wife have had problems and worked them out in private and owe no further explanations. If Gov. Clinton were your neighbor or went to church with you, would you feel you had a right to demand further details? Of course not.

Yet the press continues to pry, and we Americans are treated on national television to an orchestrated "press conference" by a paid cabaret singer claiming a 12-year liaison with Clinton. Of course, America is captivated, while our friends in Europe and Asia double over in laughter at this aspect of our electoral process. They don't consider such tabloid nonsense relevant or entertaining.

For example, Francois Mitterand is widely known to have kept for some years a mistress in an apartment on the Riviera. The point is not to condone his sexual misconduct but to indicate that the vast majority of French consider it both irrelevant (to the question of how well he governs) and an issue between him and his wife. So long as Mitterand does not compromise his political judgment, it's simply not news.

Whether it's Chuck Robb or Bill Clinton, if we continue to disqualify otherwise competent candidates for office because of our obsession to invade their private lives, we'll continue to chase away anyone but someone who is passionless, programmed, watered-down and/or manufactured. Last time this left us with a choice between Dukakis and Bush, so it's possible we've already reached that point. JOE STEFFEN BLACKSBURG

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