Asked what she thinks of Bill Clinton, Terri Beck grimaces and gives a thumbs down. "He doesn't have a strong character," Beck explains. "I feel like if he cheats on his wife and lies to her, he certainly won't tell me the truth."
Her assessment is shared by a dozen other women at the weekly supper of the Mechanicsville Baptist Church outside Richmond. For Beck, a 36-year-old mother of two young daughters, and her friends, it is not only the politicians who have gone wrong. American culture, they say, has sunk to a new low that is reflected in escalating crime, an obsession with sex and a decline in the strength of the family.
No interest. No one in public life inspires Terri Beck. Not even the raging Senate campaign in Virginia involving Oliver North, incumbent Chuck Robb and independent Marshall Coleman has engaged her. Beck and her husband, Steve, an operations supervisor at a local brokerage, voted for George Bush in 1992, and they see no reason to stop supporting Republicans in state and local races. But they pay little attention to politics.
To them, Bill Clinton is a symbol of what's gone wrong with the country. "He gives people the idea if it feels good, do it, and Hillary is the same way," says Mrs. Beck. "That's wrong." She was particularly unhappy with Clinton's early attempt to allow gays in the military. Still, she concedes, there is only so much a president can do; "special interests" dominate Washington. She doubts that Clinton deserves much credit for the economic recovery; she believes the economy is shaped by forces beyond his control.
"What do you think, Mom?" she says, turning to Peggy Hildreth, 64. "One man can do only so much," Hildreth agrees. But she raises another sore point -- the Clinton health care plan: "I'm not in favor of socialized medicine." She adds a pet peeve shared by many at the church supper: The news media and many national politicians constantly make fun of conservative Christians, "like maybe the religious right isn't intelligent." The religious right, she argues, is preserving values such as opposition to abortion that once were considered mainstream. Her daughter nods, saying she can't allow her children to watch TV alone. Too often, she says, graphic sex or violence pops up, and she must change the channel.
Beck's answer to what ails America is simple: "Get all of the long-term politicians out of Washington so we get some politicians who really want to do something for the country." At least, she says, that would make a decent start.
