Sex. Power. Scandal. What could make better headlines?

The alleged affair between President Bill Clinton and former White House intern Monica Lewinsky has grabbed the public’s attention and created a media feeding frenzy.

And, the story just keeps getting weirder and weirder.

Since the story broke last week, we’ve found out Monica Lewinsky may not have been the innocent 21-year-old victim of Bill Clinton’s alleged sexual advances, the picture many Clinton opponents tried to paint in order to connect this incident to Paula Jones and Gennifer Flowers.

Earlier this week, Lewinsky’s high school drama teacher came forward to tell of his five-year sexual affair with Ms. Lewinsky. And her lawyer admits the affair happened!

Fox news reported the drama teacher said Lewinsky is a girl who “twists the truth” and is “obsessed with sex.”

Now people are really talking.

Some reporters and politicos are saying Lewinsky may have been a predator, seeing her internship as an opportunity to have some kind of relationship with the most powerful man in the world.

And, as weird as that is, it gets even more strange.

CNN Headline News reported Penthouse magazine is offering Lewinsky $2 million to do a photoshoot. A few years ago, Penthouse ran semi-nude photographs of Paula Jones and suggestive pictures of Gennifer Flowers.

Speaking of Gennifer Flowers, Bill Clinton admitted last week that he did, in fact, have an affair with her even though he continuously denied it during his bid for the presidency.

Yes, it certainly is getting weird.

I’m amazed and disgusted — but not with Bill or Monica.

Let’s face it, this is everyday American stuff. We hear about sexual obsession, extramarital affairs and power- hungry people all the time.

What amazes me is the public’s interest in this story.

Who cares if Bill had an affair while he was in the White House? He’s certainly not the first president to do it. Heck, with some of our most admired presidents on the who’s who list of adulterers, it’s almost an American tradition to do it with someone other than the First Lady while in office. We should be proud of Bill for carrying on this American tradition.

What disgusts me is the media attention this silly little affair (alleged, at that) is getting. There are important issues out there that need coverage and discussion. This doesn’t.

The media was quick to rush to judgement. Pundits and political talk show hosts rushed to the spotlight to comment on whether they thought Clinton would resign or be impeached.

Resign? Impeach? Please! All the guy did was allegedly (there’s that word again) sleep with someone.

Even if Clinton did have an affair with Lewinsky, does that in any way limit his capacity to perform his presidential duties? No, of course not. (He can continue to have just as uneventful a presidency as he has for the past five years and have an affair at the same time.)

Maybe, just maybe if people would stop attacking him and appointing questionable independent counsels to investigate completely bogus claims against him, the man could get something done.

The important thing to remember in all this is that even though a lot of people are talking, the two people involved are not.

Clinton said he didn’t have a relationship with Lewinsky and has moved on to other issues. Lewinsky hasn’t made a clear public statement yet. Hillary said she believes her husband and stands by him. If everything is okay between Bill and Hillary, why is this such a big deal? It’s their marriage, after all.

The terms and boundaries of their marriage are defined by them — not the right wing, the moral majority, the media or even the public.

Even though they are a public couple, constituents, the media and politicians have no right telling them what is good or bad for their marriage.

Yet, everyone is still talking.

I think it’s time to talk about something else.

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Jonquil Wegmann is a senior in community and regional planning from Bellevue.