WASHINGTON — It is another day of cuts, color and commentary here at Salon Cristophe--yes, the Cristophe of Air Force One haircut fame--but the clientele no longer is impressed by a presidential sex scandal that has dragged on for more than a year.
The gaggle of news crews staked out across the street at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel in hopes of catching a glimpse of a certain former White House intern bemuses these professional women. The ongoing spectacle on Capitol Hill disgusts them.
A corporate manager who was getting her nails done calls the impeachment trial "purely partisan politics." A hotel caterer in for a manicure and hair coloring dismisses charges that the president committed high crimes and misdemeanors as "a farce." And a computer specialist who came for a trim complains that the House Republicans who are prosecuting President Clinton in a Senate trial just seem stuck on sex--despite their assertions to the contrary.
"I think that what he did was sleazy," said Cheryl LaMar, 30, who calls herself politically independent. "But it's a private matter, and the state doesn't really have a lot of business asking about these things."
Beauty Parlor Reality Check
In a city that runs on politics, beauty parlors offer a reality check. It is here, in nail boutiques and hair salons, that the rights and wrongs of the gender wars are debated and dissected every day. By now, the beauticians and their customers have combed through every conceivable knot in Clinton's relationship with former intern Monica S. Lewinsky and the ensuing political drama.
Months of passionate GOP efforts to portray this as a grave constitutional crisis involving perjury, obstruction of justice and betrayal of public trust have influenced some opinions. But an informal salon survey demonstrates why Republicans are finding it difficult to convince the country that the alleged crimes of the twice-elected Democratic president warrant booting him from office. Most denizens of the capital's beauty industry, like much of the public, think the scandal is less about the unbending rule of law than about the fickle rules of sex and partisan alliance.
"It had to do with an extramarital affair. . . ," said Denise Parker, 47, a government employee. "We should have left it at that."
To be sure, some hairdressers were leery of speaking their minds on impeachment for fear of alienating customers who hold opposing views. Cristophe, for instance, who gave Clinton an unexpectedly controversial cut on a runway at Los Angeles International Airport six years ago, smiled and declined comment.
