Swarming sex scandals
Yet another politician has slip-slided his way to ruin and shame, down the fathomless well of salacious sexual desire. Should we care? Such a recurring event warrants no more than a shoulder shrug, but Americans seem to relish every detail as they watch their celebrities squirm and sweat as they fall from grace with a resounding thud. It is an ugly sport, as the voyeurs gloat over the wreckage of the high and mighty. Some of us are more inclined to feel sorry for those self-destructive souls, who finally get caught.
New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, once a self- righteous chief prosecutor and Democratic State Attorney was nicknamed the Sherriff of Wall Street for coming down hard on corruption especially on prostitution rings. His rising career in the Democratic Party was surely destined for greater opportunities. Even the White House did not seem so far from reach, only a week ago. Now, after resigning, and out of public office for good, he will fade away as so many have before him. Three years ago, a neighbouring Governor from New Jersey, James McGreevey stood at the podium, his wife by his side, as he admitted to an extramarital affair with a male employee. He too left office to be engulfed into the realm of the unknown. Conservative Republicans themselves are not above a sexual rollick -- the latest was Mark Foley caught exchanging pederastic communications with teenage page boys in the Senate. The scandal is alleged to be the reason why the Republican majority lost to the Democrats in the last elections, handing them control of the House and the Senate.
The most notorious of all American sex scandals, is the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky affair. A young White House intern caused the impeachment of a sitting president and almost brought him down, but "Slick Willie," as he is called, is the only figure to come out of this public scandal, and indeed several other embarrassing accusations, unscathed. Carried by a wave of sympathy his wronged wife, Hillary Clinton was elected a New York Senator, and may now even land the White House. The Clintons however are the exception, which tells us a thing or two about their political skills and tenacity. If they possess a secret formula, would they not collect even more millions if they made it available to Congress and other celebrities. One, Gary Hart, would have certainly benefited from it twenty years ago. In 1987 Hart, a Democratic Presidential hopeful, dared the press to follow him around as part of his response to rumours that he was "playing around." Unfortunately for him the press dared. Hart was caught on a yacht appropriately named Monkey Business with a very lovely blonde, Donna Rice, sitting on his lap. Hart disappeared from public life, while Rice is active in charity work.
Are such scandals unique to the US? Surely they occur the world over, as boys will be boys, and self- destruction is not an uncommon trait, especially among the thriving elite. The reason they seem prominent in the US with a recent count of 53 scandals is two-fold. One, a relentless press corps which has little regard for celebrities, and has the freedom to reveal and dissect, analyze and criticize. Two, the possibility that a puritanical moral residue still lingers in middle-class America, which no amount of progress seems to eradicate. Europeans and others have unwritten laws about protecting their own politicians and respecting their privacy.
Britain may be considered home to sex scandals. They occur and recur often enough, but seem to appear and disappear as often as the London fog. Some of us still remember the sensational "Profumo" affair, named after John Profumo, then Secretary of War. Profumo's object of desire was a pretty "party girl" Christine Keeler, who also happened to carry a simultaneous relationship with the Naval Soviet Attache in London, Yvgeney Ivanof. The affair became public in 1962, vehemently denied by Profumo at first. Finally he confessed to lying and misleading the House of Commons. Such scandals rarely hurt the girls involved, who go on to fame and fortune as in this case, Keeler and girlfriend Mandy Rice-Davis who became minor pop culture figures. Britain is rich with such sensational salacious stories, but only a few cause much of a stir, or have long lasting repercussions.
Sex and politics seem to go hand in hand. It is not hard to be seduced by the young and the beautiful, and the young and beautiful are easily seduced by position and power.
Even in religious circles this phenomenon exists, as in the case of the Baptist minister Jimmy Swaggert, who preached chastity by day and sought prostitutes by night. The Catholic Church itself was embroiled in numerous sex lawsuits with the latest settlement reaching $60 million for each of 45 lawsuits. The archdiocese paid $250 million in December 2007 and the balance is to come from religious orders and insurance carriers.
Each country handles sex scandals differently, none so mercilessly as the US. Had Francois Mitterand or Valery Giscard d'Estaing been presidents of the US, they would not have completed one term. While the British may scoff and snigger, chuckle or snear at such illicit behaviour, the French may or may not even raise an eyebrow or shrug a shoulder. They take it all in stride, après tout, a president is also just a man. The French take pride in such manly activities.
In most countries it is an unspoken rule that the press treat with respect the private lives of politicians. Leave the sensationalism to movie stars like Hugh Grant and Michael Jackson.
Surely there are extra-marital adventures among politicians everywhere, in China, Japan, Africa, the Near East, Middle East, and Far East, but no one cares or dares to dwell on them.
I doubt that our lives have changed one iota by the knowledge of such adventures. If we cherish liberty, we must also cherish privacy, for all or for none. The voyeurism bug has become an epidemic in the US. Perhaps if they treat their politicians with some deserence, the rest of the world will too!
When the passions become masters, they become vices
-- Blaise Pascal (1623 -- 1662)Caption: New York Governor Eliot Spitzer
C a p t i o n : New York Governor Eliot Spitzer
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/889/pe2.htm