BETWEEN THE LINES: THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY: WHERE HOLLYWOOD AND REAL LIFE MIX

The best part of being a journalist is that you can never predict what will be the big news from day to day.

Nor can you predict how people react to the news.

With the ruling last week that Paula Jones didn't have enough evidence to continue her case against President Bill Clinton, the nation was sort of caught off guard. You could hear the buzz miles away.

Some people around the Southeast Missourian office even thought it was an April Fool's joke, as did President Clinton.

It was the truth. And frankly, I'm a little disappointed. This sexual harassment suit has been dragging on for three years and in one day it came to an abrupt halt.

An Arkansas judge, after calling witnesses and listening to their testimonies, has decided that Jones doesn't have "anything worthy for trial."

It may not have been worthy for trial, but it's certainly been worth its weight in newsprint. There likely have been more column inches devoted to the case and its analysis than any other issue facing the American people.

Now that Paula will be going away, we can only look forward to the Monica Lewinsky debacle.

Of course, with the decision not to go to trial, even more column inches are being devoted to the Jones case and its place in history.

I still haven't decided if Clinton is innocent or guilty or if Jones just made the whole story up. It's really a case of "he said, she said."

But it's amazing how people have reacted. The public hated the press coverage given to Clinton's sex life when the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke. But with Paula Jones it was a different story. Somehow it seemed more acceptable to bring his sex life to trial when she was involved.

Even Hollywood has gotten into the act now. We just can't get a break with several movies portraying the presidency on the big screen.

Probably the movie most true to life is "Primary Colors," based on a novel written by Anonymous, who turned out to be Newsweek columnist Joe Klein. It's a story about the primary race for the presidency. (And since John Travolta really does look like Bill Clinton, it's not hard to guess who he's depicting.)

I had read the book last summer and saw the movie last weekend. As the credits rolled, I enjoyed listening as the crowd offered its opinions on Clinton, Lewinsky and Jones. Most said he's probably a good politician with a sordid personal life. And they think the media have been too harsh.

There hasn't been a perfect president yet, but this story comes close to depicting the truth. A presidential candidate finds dirt on his opponent during a primary race and has to decide how to handle it. And he doesn't respond negatively to opposing advertisements. Instead, he's consumed with the American people and the issues they face everyday.

It's a story about how politics should really work, minus the sexual harassment lawsuits and the $35 million special prosecutor investigations.

Too bad it's just fiction and not reality.

~Laura Johnston is a copy editor at the Southeast Missourian.