Lying To Make Friends

I don’t really have much to add on the subject of Mark Sanford, I just wanted to use that headline. It does amaze me that high-profile politicians continue to think they can get away with this kind of of stuff. The cynical, and quite possibly correct, response would be that most politicians are unfaithful, and only a minority actually get caught. But, as a front-runner to be the Republican nominee for president, you gotta know people are going to be keeping an eye on you. At least John Edwards had the sense to sneak around in hotel rooms, rather than thinking he could just drop off the face of the earth for a week with no one getting suspicious.

-AR

OK, I lied, I do have more to say. Excuse me while I get on my soapbox and do a little moralizing. While I usually agree with most every word Adam Serwar writes, I disagree with him that we shouldn’t care about politicians’ infidelities. Trust is important in a democracy. And while the sex aspect causes too much attention to be paid to infidelity, a politician’s personal life definitely matters (and not only when there’s blatant hypocrisy at play). Obviously it’s not important enough a factor that I’m going to support George Bush over Bill Clinton, but if a person cheats on their spouse (or is a bad tipper, or yells at the coach during their kid’s little league game, etc.), that is going to effect whether I want them to be the person speaking for me in my government.

I strongly supported John Edwards in the Democratic Primary, in 2004 and especially when he moved to the left in 2008. When his affair was revealed, it made me question whether he actually believed the things that made me support him in the first place. If someone could be that dishonest to the people closest to him, why would I trust him when he says he’s deeply committed to ending poverty? I still haven’t answered the question for myself if I would vote for Edwards again if I had another crack at the Democratic Primary. His platform was that much better than Clinton or Obama that I don’t regret for a second the time I spent campaigning for him. But the choice between a faithful Edwards and an unfaithful Edwards is an easy one.