First, Proximity; Then, Power to Corrupt

There is no better illustration of Lord Acton’s turn-of-the-century axiom that power tends to corrupt than the sordid spectacle we are now observing in Washington. And no matter how the Clinton-Lewinsky affair turns out, the lesson in power and corruption will stay with us a long time, like a grisly highway accident we slowed down to watch despite our revulsion.

Let us begin with how Monica Lewinsky came to be at the White House. Few readers of this column would be able to secure for a daughter just out of college a job, paid or unpaid, that put her at the threshold of the Oval Office. The principal credential that this young woman appears to have carried was the endorsement of a New York businessman named Walter Kaye, a friend of her mother, who had contributed lavishly to the Clinton campaign and to the president’s legal defense fund.

It is not by some mysterious process that the children and friends of political contributors end up working at the White House. No more mysterious, certainly, than how these same contributors came to spend the night in the Lincoln Bedroom.

Anyone who has spent any time at all in Washington knows not one but dozens of Monica Lewinskys--young people with varying degrees of talent whose most conspicuous qualification for the job is a connection to someone with deep pockets and a generous disposition toward politicians. Without demeaning the dedication of the vast majority of these young people, it is undeniable that talent alone gets very few a foot in the White House door.

But even the most favored of these proteges of the well-connected could not dream of the kind of access enjoyed by Lewinsky. Job counseling by presidential crony Vernon Jordan and an interview with U.N. Ambassador Bill Richardson do not fall within the normal realm of human services available to government workers. Even if nothing of an intimate nature took place with the president, Lewinsky’s resume was scented with the aroma of influence.

That she enjoyed preferential status was evident in her pass to the West Wing of the White House, where the Oval Office is located. Lewinsky’s job was in the Executive Office Building next door. An intern assigned to that building would need to be cleared through security for each visit to the White House. Lewinsky’s pass gave her access that is normally reserved for officials at the level of associate director of such high-level presidential staff agencies as the National Security Council and the President’s Council of Economic Advisors.

Trafficking in connections in Washington is an equal opportunity profession. That most of the brokers are white men does not exclude women and minorities from aspiring to a brush with the powerful and coming away with mementos to impress the less fortunate. Office walls in Washington are so encrusted with autographed photos, presidential proclamations and framed pens used for South Lawn bill-signing that they more nearly resemble grottoes where miracles are anticipated than they do places of business. The message to the visitor is clear: Tread softly and respectfully, for this is someone who has touched the bones.

Those in high office who distribute the relics and icons assume heroic stature, and no group accords them greater deference and more undeviating loyalty than members of their immediate entourage--their employees and staffers. These are men and women who would cheerfully throw themselves in front of a speeding train for the boss. They might also lie under oath or refuse to answer the questions of a grand jury.

Surrounded by loyal subordinates and having within easy reach the courtiers of the capital--the legion of lawyers, directors of friendly interest groups and pugnacious flacks who rally to the imperial defense on the Sunday panel shows--presidents and other powerful people come to think of themselves as ruling by divine right. Not only that, it’s exciting and great fun. Power may corrupt, but it also delights. Absolutely.