What lessons in moral behavior for aspiring presidents may we take away from the events of recent campaigns? With Herman Cain's campaign suspension over accusations of extramarital affairs, the candidate who has risen to first place among Republicans is none other than former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich -- a man who left two wives for women with whom he was having affairs -- the second, a House staffer.
Keeping in mind, too, the Clinton mess and the John Edwards we never really knew, four simple lessons emerge for anyone who may think of running for the highest office in our land:
1. Schedule adultery so that it does not occur in close proximity to or during your election campaign.
2. When condition 1 is observed, you may leave your spouse for the other person even early in her/his fight with a life-threatening illness like cancer or multiple sclerosis.
3. Serial indiscretions are fine so long as number 1 above applies.
4. Always appear above criticism about your infidelity. Maintain that your message is more important than past personal behavior, that you have a handle on family values, and don't forget to mention what you and God have worked out.
If recent polls are correct, this is the emerging lesson young people may take from future presidential primaries: Do as you please, lie, hurt people close to you even when they're possibly at death's door. Just don't commit the cardinal campaign transgression of inauspicious timing and you may one day be president.
Kathleen also blogs at Comebacks at Work.
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Paula Jones was offered sex. She apparently passed.
She later claimed Clinton stiffed her in other ways. Those claims didn't quite pan out. She kept getting promotions and couldn't produce a shred of evidence that Clinton or anyone else was carrying out a vendetta against her at work.
Gingrich? Cheated on his first wife, left her while she was ill. Cheated on his second wife, left her when he found out she was likely to get ill.
Clinton's a hound dog, to be sure, but to his credit he saved his marriage. Gingrich? Compared to Clinton, he's a piece of work.
Great article - you nailed it. With a little practice, we'll soon be just as socially advanced as France.
DSK all the way.
I don't pay the president for his personal life, I pay him (or her) to run my country.
The main issues I have with Newt and old Herman are that they simply aren't presidential material, not by a long shot. Their personal sexual escapades are only a live demonstration of their larger overall incompetence.
BTW, can I be President now?
Simply saying you're right with God and you've made mistakes doesn't cut it.
Even if you wanted to give Gingrich a bye on leaving her first wife while she was actually physically ill fighting for her life, he did the same thing a second time, except the second time he didn't wait for the woman he was married to to actually get sick. At the first sign of, yikes, I'm going to have to either be a nurse-maid or hire one, he bailed.
The president still has his (or maybe her, some day) finger on the nuclear trigger. A candidate's decisions matter. And Gingrich hasn't held executive positions in government, so the best voters can judge him on is the decisions we have seen him make. How the man treats his wives ain't pretty.
The reason was not because the latest and last incident was "consensual", but because too many people started getting the feeling that "there's plenty more women waiting in the wings to make more damaging accusations". We still don't know if these people are wrong. When I say "people", I mean ordinary voters: people who are not paid to boost up Cain.
I have to speak with Molly, my Maltese. She must be on staff since Obama is just awesome at rolling-over.