Governor Mark Sanford has announced he intends to try to keep his job as South Carolina's governor. This, after admitting to secret flights to meet his 'soul mate' down in Buenos Aires behind his state (and his wife's) back.
But it might not all be Sanford's fault. He might just have the cheating gene. About 40% of males possess this genetic allele that predisposes wanderlust in the male genitalia.
Sex and politics has never been an easy mix.
Rumors abound that the vaulted Franklin Delano Roosevelt had a grand ol' time with his Press Secretary (Eleanor is also rumored to have enjoyed the company of women in the White House, if you know what I mean). James Buchanan, after losing his wife, seems to have also lost his interest in women and took up a home with another man who was referred to as "his wife." Then there's Clinton.
But here's the trick. I'm not condoning extra-marital affairs, or romps in the backroom with your housemate, and there is the argument that a person who can't control their marriage shouldn't control a nation, but a speculative look at our Presidents indicates that many 'successful' ones liked to get around. Thomas Jefferson, anyone? John F Kennedy? FDR?
The old adage, it's not the crime, it's the lie to cover up the crime that'll get you rings true. That's what got Clinton impeached by the House. That's what got everyone interested in Sanford in the first place. But are we being fair? Sanford's a perfect case study in being too honest. The guy won't shut up. He's brutally, painfully, agonizingly honest. So do we want honesty from our leaders? Or would we prefer a JFK approach, to turn a blind eye and just appreciate that he helped put a man on the moon?
It's not so much the affair, it's the fact that it was such an elaborately dumb cover-up. Couldn't he find an excuse to vacation (for the first time in like ten years) instead of "hike the Appalacian trail"?! I'm more concerned with his intelligence than his libido!
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