It has been said by those who know him that Bill Clinton is obsessed with his legacy. Not to worry, Mr. President. If the statistics of 2007 study published in the “Journal of Adolescent Health” are accurate, America’s youth will never forget you: 70% of teens between the ages of 14 and 19 don’t consider oral sex to be sex.

This is not to lay the blame entirely at your feet. Teenagers can rationalize virtually anything that suits their hormonal purposes. That is the reality of biology. But it is also reality that your tenure as Chief Executive has caused a sea change in the minds of the more vulnerable and impressionable among us.

Perhaps it never occurred to you that your attempt to escape the consequences of your own adolescent-like behavior would resonate this far after the fact. Most Americans have probably forgotten the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit. They probably don’t remember that you settled out of court for $850,000, were fined an additional $91,000 for “civil contempt of court” and disbarred for a period of five years.

But making the legal argument that “oral sex is not sex?” That, Mr. President, people remember. And more than ten years after the fact America’s youth is taking that argument to heart. Now, preposterous as it seems to anyone with a lick of common sense, it is necessary to convince kids that what they consider “debatable” is not really debatable at all. It’s not called oral SEX for nothing, boys and girls.

That it has become debatable–and that parents, teachers and counselors must remind kids that even if they can’t get pregnant, they can still get STDs, or HIV, and that any intimate contact has emotional repercussions–is now just another part of growing up. It’s also part of America’s ever-expanding universe of “legalese,” rationalization, double-talk and moral relativity all of which insures one can remain unaccountable for the consequences of one’s behavior. If a president of the United States thinks oral sex isn’t sex, who is America’s youth to argue?

That’s part of your historical legacy, Mr. Clinton.

Whether you like it or not.

atahlert@comcast.net

Have PoliticalMavens.com delivered to your inbox in a daily digest by clicking here