Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
What do President Clinton and drug addicts have in common?
Cheryl Moore, chemical dependency liaison for Bowen Center, said the two have more in common than some may think.
"They tell themselves they're not hurting anyone else but themselves," she said.
Moore said addicts, like Clinton, don't see who they are hurting or how they hurt anyone. They want to feel good now and don't look at the consequences which follow, she said.
"It's like the drunk driver who does it over and over who doesn't get caught. They think, 'I've done it before and I didn't get caught.' They think they can get away with it again," she said.
Like drug addicts, Moore said, Clinton is a compulsive liar. She said he has a difficult time in just stating the truth. He uses a lot of legalese to get out of trouble, she said.
"He knows what people mean, but he finds ways around them," she said.
An analogy to Clinton would be when a parent asks a child if the child has washed their hands. The child will say yes. When the parent asks if he washed them today, he will say no.
The obvious reason for Clinton's problem would be like sexual addiction, she said. However, Moore said that it was probably more a question of power. In cases of rape and incest, many of the assailants seek power over their victims. Moore said that could be true for Clinton, too.
It was that power that Clinton has in the world which intoxicated Monica Lewinsky into having an affair with Clinton, Moore said. Although Moore admits to not knowing Lewinsky too well, she can make inferences about Lewinsky from what she does know.
"Even though her behavior was deplorable, she was 21, she was very naive. At some level, she probably thought he really did care," Moore said.
Moore said Lewinsky heard what she wanted to hear. When Clinton told Lewinsky that he would be 75 when she was 50 if they were still together, Clinton implied that he would be with her, Moore said.
"He played on that. He led her to believe that they would be together," she said.
Many editorials in newspapers charge that Clinton is a psychopath, she said.
"As a therapist, I agree that Clinton is a psychopath," she said.
"A lot of petty criminals believe the same thing as Clinton. They think that if they steal something small from a big company like Wal-Mart, no one is getting hurt.
"Clinton is doing the same. He's not any different from being a purse snatcher.
"He's a risky bet."
Clinton, she said, needs treatment and help the same as any drug addict. He can't break the cycle if he tries to do it by himself. He needs professional help with his problem.
If he's been doing it since he was 20, he's been doing it for 30 years. It will take a while for Clinton to break that cycle of affairs and lies, Moore said.
"He may have childhood issues. That's not an excuse, but he needs to get help to deal with those," she said.
