8th February 1998 When the third Clinton sex scandal (Gennifer Flowers, Paula Jones and Monica Lewinsky) broke out I was in Kuala Lumpur and missed witnessing the startling and defiant defence by Hillary which charmed and infected the American nation. Thanks to his wife. Hillary is a woman any man would have loved to have as a wife - forgiving, clever and strong. She remains loyal rightly or wrongly - and defiantly stands by her man again. Their marriage must be extraordinary. Why does Hillary stick with her husband? I believe love and the will to survive makes her loyal to his faults besides she believes her husband's enemies are determined to get him and likewise she is equally resolved to deny them victory. Steve Dumleavy, a columnist of the New York Post recently said, "Hillary is a First Schemer who conspires to turn wrong into right. And Hillary Rodham Clinton dares to use the word 'conspiracy?"', adding that "if it weren't for her this very First Lady (First Schemer) - Bill Clinton couldn't get elected as a sewer commissioner in Little Rock." Hillary, her husband's closest adviser and partisan-in-chief in her blistering counter attack against independent prosecutor Kenneth Starr, had claimed that her husband and she were sufferers of a "vast right-wing conspiracy" which included the "politically motivated" independent counsel. Starr said Hillary was talking nonsense. Polls at the time of writing found millions of Americans who think Hillary is only pretending to believe her husband's denial about an affair with 24-year old Monica Lewinsky, and despite their feeling that Clinton is lying, gave him an approval rating of nearly 70%. This should make Clinton's enemies a bit uncomfortable. Yet only less than a fortnight ago the Clinton presidency appeared dying before their eyes. There is nothing wiser and braver to do when one is threatened with an impending disaster than to take the war into the enemy territory: the best defence is to attack and that was precisely what Hillary did, harakiri or otherwise. It was Hillary, rather than her husband, who went into the offensive although Clinton did vigorously deny he had sexual relations with "that woman, Miss Lewinsky". Nor did he claim he told anyone not to tell the truth. Hillary's offensive paid off, even if temporarily. The enemy retreated momentarily. As I see it the question is simple: did he or did he not do it? Clinton is too shrewd and seasoned a politician to admit or even hint of an indiscretion. I am inclined to believe he is telling the truth albeit a partial truth and it does look like he will survive for now, unless new findings break out, something which even Lewinsky's lawyer William Ginsburg seems to think. He said: "The crisis will go away. It will pass. The president will remain in office ... everything is going to be fine. The American public is tired of hearing the president's sex life." If Clinton is not lying then Lewinsky is, unless she comes out fast and with an even more devastating evidence that she and Clinton did have sex even if it were only oral sex. Anyway, Lewinsky visited the White House 37 times from April 1996 to December 1997 after leaving her low-level job there to work at the Pentagon in 1996, and she was usually cleared for entry by the president's personal secretary! The New -York Times repored that her last visit to the White House, now under scrutiny by investigators, occurred on Dec 28, 11 days after she was subpoenaed to testify in the Paula Jones sexual misconduct law suit against President Clinton. Lewinsky is claiming that during that visit Clinton told her that her visits to him at the White House were to see his secretary, Betty Currie. The frequency of visits does underscore an unusual access to the White House, and the Pentagon said the trips were not related to her job at the press office there. Meanwhile, argument is brewing that oral sex, it seems, is not sex per se - nor adultery because no penetration takes place. Whatever. Although I personally do not think sexual alliances should cause a president or prime minister to leave office, it is unworthy for a national leader to be smooching girls in his office. What concerns me is deceit rather than the kissing and fondling and ... I think, Clinton although an unthinkable thought, should just admit and be damned. I believe by admitting he errs, he will, like Princess Diana, become even more popular. The American people will forgive him because he has actually worked hard at being a good president. The American economy is booming, the people are happy and prosperous and generally at ease with themselves. Their nation is the sole super power and super everything. On top of all this a balanced budget, the first in 30 years, is being offered, and the changed and changing views on morality combined to give Clinton a good job performance rating. The Americans are generally good albeit somewhat permissive. As long as they get what they want (materialism), as long as times are good and the dollars roll in, they care little what happens in the Clinton's closet! Besides, most American people seem to think that they have not got anybody "worthier" end "interesting" to replace him! American world supremacy will remain unchallenged for a long period of time. What more would any people expect of their government?