At what point did politicians start assuming that we're all a bunch of blithering idiots? Since when is it okay to make a confession just so you can do whatever you want?
I think it started, this week at least, with the news that Obama had paid off his outstanding parking tickets before announcing his candidacy. Perhaps we all chuckled a bit and thought, what a good idea to clear the slate before someone else finds those pesky parking tickets and brings them up. Better to start things off clean than to be outed and embarrassed on down the line. Because, of course, presidents can be made or broken by one mistake or one wrong word.
(Take, for example, Senator Joe Biden, who killed his candidacy the first day with these words: "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man.")
Parking tickets are one thing, but Newt Gingrich? That's a whole 'nother story. It's not the fact that he's had affairs. Lots of politicians (and for that matter, lots of ordinary folks) have. It's not even that he was having an affair while pursuing Bill Clinton's impeachment for having an affair and lying about it.
No, for me, the idiocy of Gingrich's plan lies in his assumption that the public has a short memory. If Obama can pay off his parking tickets and remain a political rock star, why can't Gingrich confess a few little things, clean the slate of past mistakes, and return to his old Man Of The Year status?
Does he think we can't discern the motives for his confession? Is there any way he would have confessed if he wasn't testing the waters for his chances for presidency? Are we ready for a year and a half of campaign promises and muddy waters?
Oh, but I'm sorry. I heard he wasn't running.
"I am not 'running' for president. I am seeking to create a movement to win the future by offering a series of solutions so compelling that if the American people say I have to be president, it will happen."
Good start.
5 comments:
Nice word play, confession is good for the goal of the political soul, along with your motivational observations, which I share, about candidates posturing to improve their electability (sic).
Mike
Let he who is without sin...
The teachings of John 8:2-11 seem to focus on spiritual condemnation of others. Citizens who declare their candidacy for elected office knowingly open themselves up for public scrutiny and criticism of their character traits which may predict how well they'd govern.
I'm puzzled by the discussion of Newt's affair, as well... it's old headline news. The arena of public political discussion seems peppered with much that has little to do with the lives of the people whom political candidates want to govern; but the character of those candidates is germane to their worthiness to hold that trust.
I agree that religion likes to judge, criticize and condem people for behavior they deem sinful.
It's odd, but I'm actually less bothered by Newt's inability to resist sexual temptation, than I am about Obama's ignoring parking tickets. I feel sort of guilty feeling that way and perhaps it doesn't make sense on some level, but it's how I find myself feeling. I guess it seems that shirking parking tickets is something that is so dispassionate, and within ones complete control, that it truly reveals the character of a person; rather than the passion of biological attraction flooding the brain leading to actions that are at the foundation of our biology.
Oh well. I don't claim to have it figured out. More scripture verses please.
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