Obsessed with the Irrelevant

To the editors:

Jenny E. Heller, in her piece "Ashamed to Be an American Abroad" (Opinion, Jan. 6) feels ashamed to be an American because her president had oral sex in the Oval Office. True, America has become a laughing stock. But this is not because President Clinton had an extramarital affair, but because the nation--especially its politicians and its press--have become obsessed with the issue.

Helmut Kohl was Germany's chancellor for over 16 years. During at least five of those years I followed the German press fairly regularly. All I ever learned about his family--already more than I cared to--was that he had two sons. The lack of supply of such news is at least partly due to a lack of demand. French President Francois Mitterand was known to have been sexually enterprising, but when Paris Match disclosed that he had a daughter from one of his mistresses, the magazine's sales plunged.

What many Europeans I know find critical is the view that a politician's family or sexual life is the public's business, and that an evaluation of this becomes a basis for major political decisions. Instead, it rarely has any relevance to one's ability to be a public servant. Even if it does, it is not a moral but a psychological issue.

If Heller's claim that Europe has turned away from the United States as the defender of democratic ideals is true, it has nothing to do with Clinton's behavior. Most Europeans I know are astounded that sexual affairs can be such a lasting issue in American politics.

I wish to emphasize that this is not a commentary on the charge of perjury or other allegedly impeachable offenses. As those are complex issues, I cannot comment on them in such brief space. But before invoking the voices of more than 400 million Europeans to condemn the President of the United States, more accuracy and effort is necessary. GABOR D. GYORI '01   Jan. 8, 1999