Why I'm Not A Believer
If you want moral castigation over the Edwards affair revelations you can find them in many many elsewheres.
One particular tack of criticism and disapproval that does catch my eye is the idea, which I endorse, that this retroactively taints the Edwards candidacy. (As someone who was a fan of said candidacy, this matters to me.) If Edwards knew the information about his affair was floating around at the same time he was gearing up for a campaign, he either had to know that it was quite likely this information would eventually come to light, or he was delusional. These things always get uncovered. If he was delusional, that's no good. If he knew there was a great likelihood of discovery, that's no good either. The revelation of an affair would have, most seem to agree, destroyed his campaign had he become the Democratic nominee. To pursue the presidency even when doing so raised the risk that his own personal foibles would submarine an otherwise extremely strong opportunity for the Democrats to regain control of the White House indicates a great deal of arrogance and selfishness. (Or, otherwise, delusions and/or naiveté.)
I'm not interested in discussing whether this apparent reality of our political culture is a good thing (I don't think it is). I'm also not interested in discussing whether this standard is fairly applied; McCain cheated on his first wife, and that doesn't seem to do any harm to his candidacy, but I do believe that he'd be seriously damaged if it was revealed that he was stepping out on his current wife. Fair or not, stupid or not (unfair and stupid), this seems to be the situation we've been dealt. (Clinton is an interesting case/exception. For one thing, he was already the president and already had the fact that a majority of the people liked him being the president in his back pocket at the time of the Lewinsky scandal. Furthermore, as others have been pointed out, Clinton had been so relentlessly attacked for less well substantiated instances of adultery and general lasciviousness, both by serious political opponents and, incessantly, by late night talk show hosts, that the power of the exposure was severely depleted. Even though in fact it was a new revelation, it felt like something we all already knew, anyway, and had learned to live with.)
What I am interested in mentioning is why, despite my disappointment with Edwards' arrogance and selfishness, I'm neither surprised nor disillusioned: I don't trust people who run for president. This is why even though I like Obama, will vote for him, think and hope he'll be more of a good president than not, and honestly think that he can do a lot to improve and advance social ... attitudes in this country, I don't think of him - can't think of him - as a revolutionary figure, as someone in whom to unreservedly believe, a Great Hope, or any of the aspirational - and, some Republicans would say, quasi-messianic - drapery with which he's been provided: he's actually running for president, and I don't believe (in) people who run for president.
It's possible that there was a point in my life when I thought it might be cool to be the president. This definitely would have been before I had any understanding of what it might be like to be the president. I have, today, less than no desire for the presidency. And, even if I had a desire to somehow magically be the president, I look at the process necessary for becoming the president and I can't begin to stomach it. And even if the campaign was no obstacle to my gastrointestinal fortitude (and how could it not be?!) the general and generic compromises and life choices and ways of presenting yourself necessary to even get to the stage of viable candidacy ... it's distasteful, all the way down. I want not part of it. It's, in my opinion, all extremely ugly and dirty and while I'm glad, I suppose that someone wants the job, I can't imagine a normal, well-adjusted person wanting the job.
I always hold room for the possibility that I'm unusual or weird (shut up!) in this regard as in many others. But the idea of running for president is so uniquely foul to me that I can't fathom how it could appeal to anyone except the selfish, arrogant, and frankly the power-hungry. That's not to say that there aren't good people who are selfish, arrogant, and power-hungry, or that the selfish, arrogant, and power-hungry (whether "good people" or not) can't make good presidents. But I can't find it in my to trust in someone so patently different from myself. That Obama even wants to be the president is, in my opinion, the scariest thing about him.
On the other hand: GObama! Si, se puede.
One particular tack of criticism and disapproval that does catch my eye is the idea, which I endorse, that this retroactively taints the Edwards candidacy. (As someone who was a fan of said candidacy, this matters to me.) If Edwards knew the information about his affair was floating around at the same time he was gearing up for a campaign, he either had to know that it was quite likely this information would eventually come to light, or he was delusional. These things always get uncovered. If he was delusional, that's no good. If he knew there was a great likelihood of discovery, that's no good either. The revelation of an affair would have, most seem to agree, destroyed his campaign had he become the Democratic nominee. To pursue the presidency even when doing so raised the risk that his own personal foibles would submarine an otherwise extremely strong opportunity for the Democrats to regain control of the White House indicates a great deal of arrogance and selfishness. (Or, otherwise, delusions and/or naiveté.)
I'm not interested in discussing whether this apparent reality of our political culture is a good thing (I don't think it is). I'm also not interested in discussing whether this standard is fairly applied; McCain cheated on his first wife, and that doesn't seem to do any harm to his candidacy, but I do believe that he'd be seriously damaged if it was revealed that he was stepping out on his current wife. Fair or not, stupid or not (unfair and stupid), this seems to be the situation we've been dealt. (Clinton is an interesting case/exception. For one thing, he was already the president and already had the fact that a majority of the people liked him being the president in his back pocket at the time of the Lewinsky scandal. Furthermore, as others have been pointed out, Clinton had been so relentlessly attacked for less well substantiated instances of adultery and general lasciviousness, both by serious political opponents and, incessantly, by late night talk show hosts, that the power of the exposure was severely depleted. Even though in fact it was a new revelation, it felt like something we all already knew, anyway, and had learned to live with.)
What I am interested in mentioning is why, despite my disappointment with Edwards' arrogance and selfishness, I'm neither surprised nor disillusioned: I don't trust people who run for president. This is why even though I like Obama, will vote for him, think and hope he'll be more of a good president than not, and honestly think that he can do a lot to improve and advance social ... attitudes in this country, I don't think of him - can't think of him - as a revolutionary figure, as someone in whom to unreservedly believe, a Great Hope, or any of the aspirational - and, some Republicans would say, quasi-messianic - drapery with which he's been provided: he's actually running for president, and I don't believe (in) people who run for president.
It's possible that there was a point in my life when I thought it might be cool to be the president. This definitely would have been before I had any understanding of what it might be like to be the president. I have, today, less than no desire for the presidency. And, even if I had a desire to somehow magically be the president, I look at the process necessary for becoming the president and I can't begin to stomach it. And even if the campaign was no obstacle to my gastrointestinal fortitude (and how could it not be?!) the general and generic compromises and life choices and ways of presenting yourself necessary to even get to the stage of viable candidacy ... it's distasteful, all the way down. I want not part of it. It's, in my opinion, all extremely ugly and dirty and while I'm glad, I suppose that someone wants the job, I can't imagine a normal, well-adjusted person wanting the job.
I always hold room for the possibility that I'm unusual or weird (shut up!) in this regard as in many others. But the idea of running for president is so uniquely foul to me that I can't fathom how it could appeal to anyone except the selfish, arrogant, and frankly the power-hungry. That's not to say that there aren't good people who are selfish, arrogant, and power-hungry, or that the selfish, arrogant, and power-hungry (whether "good people" or not) can't make good presidents. But I can't find it in my to trust in someone so patently different from myself. That Obama even wants to be the president is, in my opinion, the scariest thing about him.
On the other hand: GObama! Si, se puede.
Labels: Vaguely Political
posted by medrawt at
16:19
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