Gauging the Public: Profiles in Disregard
Steve Weathers, 41, an economic development specialist and self-described moderate Republican, took a break Friday during his noon workout at the San Diego Athletic Club to deliver his opinion on the Senate trial of President Clinton.
He knows--because the network anchors and editorial writers tell him so--that the proceedings are a historic moment for America. But it all seems so far away and unengaging.
“Whatever happens, it’s not really going to affect America,” said Weathers. “If Clinton stays, I’ve got some good deals going. If Clinton goes, I’ve got some good deals going.”
Weathers is not alone in his view.
Polls have indicated that, while moderate, affluent Republicans, a bloc well-represented in California, have little regard for Clinton, they also have little or no enthusiasm for booting him out of office.
Watched With Sense of Detachment
While much has been made of the zeal among GOP social conservatives to oust Clinton and how that passion has helped drive the impeachment case, little attention has been paid to this other part of the GOP base. For most in that part of the party, it seems the scandal is being watched, if at all, with a sense of detachment.
Indeed, among the lawyers, bankers, doctors, stockbrokers, engineers, venture capitalists and others who are members of the San Diego Athletic Club--nearly all of whom are Republicans--the prevailing attitude is one of strategic realism.
They worry that their party is aiming a high-caliber weapon at its own feet. Even if prosecuting Clinton is ethically and legally correct, it may be politically stupid, they warn.
Carl Hoppes, 34, quizzed while he was doing free-weight curls, said he is concerned that, if Clinton is forced from office, there will be a nationwide backlash against Republicans. It might be better for the party if Clinton emerges from the Senate trial unscathed, he said.
“If he escapes without much punishment, there will be what psychologists call ‘unspent anger’ among people who think he should have been punished, and that will be bad for Democrats,” Hoppes said. He also thinks that his party has badly misread the public on matters of sex and privacy. “Americans believe in privacy and they believe in being able to lie about sex,” said Hoppes, a divorce attorney whose clients are mostly men.
Weathers is concerned that, if Clinton is ousted and Vice President Al Gore becomes president, the Democrats will have a leg up on keeping the White House in 2000.
“Clinton’s a ‘black hat,’ ” Weathers said. “Leaving him in office would be the worst thing Republicans could do to Democrats. Leave him there. He’s already been caught with his pants down.”
If there are any club members who feel passionately that Clinton should go, or passionately that he should stay, they were not willing to fess up Friday. The common strain was that the case’s outcome is not a matter of large significance, with one big caveat: If it has a negative impact on the stock market, it will become a problem.
“I’m very concerned the trial will hurt the stock market or the global economy,” said George Ramos, 39, a banker and the only Democrat in evidence Friday. “I think the whole thing is a waste of time. But if Clinton is removed, I won’t be sorry. He did it to himself.”
Awe-struck media talk from inside the Beltway about the momentousness of the ongoing drama seems to have left the Republicans at the club lukewarm at best. Watergate it is not, in their view.
“The whole thing seems petty,” said Clancy Wilson, 52, a tax lawyer, as he slipped on his shoes in the locker room. “The stuff Clinton is accused of--lying about sex--most Americans can identify with. It was much easier to hate Nixon. Who could identify with spying on people and using the IRS?”
Among some members, there is a kind of clinical view of the trial. “I’m a trial lawyer. I’d like to see the evidence,” said Paul Roeder, 37, an antitrust attorney.
‘It’s All a Rehash’
“I’m bored by it. It’s gone on too long. It’s all a rehash,” said Donna Brozoski, 35, operations manager for a major stock brokerage.
Of greater concern to club members is the new yoga class, a new 20-minute limit on using the Stairmaster while members are waiting and whether the Chargers’ new head coach--the fourth in three years--will rescue the local team from National Football League ignominy.
Dr. Robert E. Hertzka, 42, an anesthesiologist and president of the San Diego County Medical Society, thinks it is important that sex-in-the-workplace issues be taken seriously, even when they involve the president. But he will not lose sleep over what the Senate decides.
“I’m not allocating any time to the trial. I get grabbed by a headline or something on the [television] news, but I’m not hanging on every word.”