So let’s talk about Herman Cain again shall we? I want to return to the controversies surrounding him, most notably yesterday’s allegation by an Atlanta woman that she had a 13-year extramarital affair with Cain.
Ginger White went public with her accusation yesterday shortly after Cain’s interview with CNN. Cain apparently bemoaned the allegation saying, “here we go again,” according to CBS. He did not challenge the claim, according to CBS, but rather dismissed it.
“Cain denied the allegation, insisting that he -- and the American people -- would rather talk about more important matters. And with that in mind, his campaign is so far chugging along, hoping to sweep all the controversies surrounding Cain to the side. The candidate is scheduled to give a foreign policy speech this evening.”
The CBS article went on to explore the outlook of Cain’s campaign with yet another weighty accusation on the table. It’s grim to be honest. As CBS point out:
“Still, Cain may be coming to grips with the seemingly inevitable fate of his campaign: The National Review reports that Cain told his staffers this morning he is "reassessing" whether to stay in the race.
The latest allegations may or may not be enough to sink Herman Cain's campaign -- given the flaws of his Republican rivals, he could maintain some base of support. That said, the newest charges only serve to underscore that the collection of sexual harassment charges leveled against him in the past month, combined with a series of other campaign missteps, had already quashed his chances of emerging as a truly viable candidate.”
However, I want to back up a minute and stop focusing on if his “goose is already cooked”, as CBS put it, or not. I think we’re missing a major point here. Throw out his political ideologies and whether you agree or disagree with them. Heck, throw out the sexual harassment charges; let’s simply explore the extramarital affair and Cain’s comment—that he and the American people would rather talk about more important things.
But do the American people want to talk about more important things? (And believe me there are more IMPORTANT things going on in this country)
They say nothing sell like sex and unfortunately I believe that is true. Should Americans give more attention to the national defecit and our foreign policy? Yes. Will they? No.
The point of today’s post is to gauge whether or not the amount of attention sex scandals get is deserving or not. Look at Anthony Weiner this past summer. He was crucified politically for the crotch shot he tweeted out to young ladies—none of them being his wife.
He did this on his own time, from his own computer, his own accounts and yet the end result was his resignation.
Now let me pause a moment to clarify, I’m not justifying or supporting what he did in any way. This is not a morality debate; I’m want to look at the logic behind the event and the ramifications.
As a friend jokingly pointed out this summer, “if you are a public figure, you have a public penis”. True, but does his sex life or extramarital affairs affect his ability to represent his constituents and contribute to the functioning of this country?
Another case in point, look at Bill Clinton. The married president was one of only two presidents in the history of our nation to be impeached. The basis of his impeachment was his perjury to the grand jury about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.
It may seem strange to you that he had to testify about his sex life to a grand jury, indeed it is. That’s because what started out as a tax investigation somehow became an investigation into Clinton’s personal life.
Funny how Nixon managed to escape impeachment, but an extramarital affair and bam! Again, I’m not justifying it. I am in no way supporting the behavior. I think it’s boorish, degrading and an absolutely selfish act. Not to mention you follow that up by waving your finger at the camera and denying everything to the American people, but hey that aside, why does that affect his ability to lead this country?
I’m honestly asking because I actually don’t have a concrete opinion on it. Are these actions wrong? Do they infuriate me? Make me question the moral values of these men? Yes to all of the above. But do they affect one’s ability to make foreign policy, balance a budget, etc.? I don’t know.
What do you think? Is inappropriate sexual behavior an automatic scarlet letter for you on a politician and if so why? And I’m asking beyond simply the moral scope. What about those errors do you think affects their politics?
It is hard to really thread the needle through the relationship between infidelity or immorality and politics.
ReplyDeleteHell, someone could make the argument that a good diplomat is someone that can talk someone else into their pants on a regular basis. Instead of viewing the person as a sleaze ball and loose, what if they are just charming and charismatic?
But, nobody ever really thinks that way. Instead, we think that the values of the individual at home bleed into their values at the office. We can't separate the two and most of us don't want to. We want the moral knight because that's what most of us aspire to be, but ultimately lose to desire and greed.
When our politicians are finally ousted as people like us, we get mad. (It doesn't help that the media has a FROTHING hunger for these stories). We see in them what we dislike in us. So we vilify them all in the name of holding officials to a higher standard.
I don't like to see politicians acting this way because it breaks what a lot of us agree is a common moral bond. We all break it, but sometimes you have to hold someone to a higher standard. However, that doesn't mean I think all of them should be kicked out of office.
However, that changes when people start lying. Weiner lied, get him out. Cain lied, get him out. The list goes on and on. I don't think the Scarlet Letter (great reference, frustrating book) is the deed itself (unless it's like kiddie porn or something illegal) but it's the inability to admit and own up to mistakes.
The world needs leaders. We need people we can look up to and say, "Wow, X person's abilities have inspired me." That leader, follower relationship creates a bond that is fractured when stories like this come out, but it is shattered when they don't respect us or trust us enough to be honest.
Okay. Although I do believe that morals are extremely important in politics, I think that Americans have completely forgotten what politics is supposed to be about, and instead turned it into a circus where people point and stare at the candidate and find out every single thing that the candidate has done wrong. Regardless of what this guy does between the sheets, I don't think we have a right to crucify him. I mean, would we really have any politicians left if we found out every single terrible thing that they did?
ReplyDeleteI say crucify him. We would be screwed so I'm happy he's "suspended" his campaign. It's unfortunate that we have such a media/politician circus and that people just eat this scheiße up. Excuse my Deutsch.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Chase that it's less about the actual deed and more about the accountability. How can we trust our government if we can't expect them to own up to their mistakes. Another thing is, I think society has this expectation that people in the public light have to be better than the average citizen. Is this fair? I don't know and I don't know how that perception can change. We are all human...right?