Clinton’s legacy of scandal

IF, as they say, politicians, ugly buildings and whores all become respectable with age, then former US president William Jefferson Clinton, who turns 65 today, seems bang on target for veneration in his autumn years.

Certainly, post-White House, the many causes he promotes through his eponymous foundation — the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative, the Clinton Economic Opportunity Initiative, the Clinton Climate Initiative, et al — are the very essence of probity and altruism.

It’s all a far cry from the brazen, skirt-chasing shenanigans — most notoriously with White House intern Monica Lewinsky — which arguably defined Clinton’s presidency, and which ultimately led to his impeachment by the House of Representatives on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in December 1998.