ABSTRACT
Americans should have realized what they were getting in the White House when, during the 1992 campaign, Bill Clinton appeared in shades on The Arsenio Hall Show and played the saxophone. The appearance was criticized for lacking presidential dignity, but it also succeeded in getting Clinton noticed as someone who had a youthful outlook and would try new things, in keeping with his theme of being the representative of a new generation. He was so eager for public attention that he embarrassed himself by answering a personal question about his underwear at an MTV town-hall meeting early in his presidency. A young woman asked, “Mr. President, the world’s dying to know: Is it boxers or briefs?” Clinton laughed and replied, “Usually briefs.”1 It was widely considered too much information, and Clinton was roundly criticized for making the revelation.
