Monday, March 17, 2008
Neo-Neocon discusses John Heileman's article in New York Magazine listing ten reasons Eliot Spitzer was politically undone by his infidelities while Bill Clinton managed to survive his.
Neo says:
Spitzer had not only grown more unpopular and made many enemies in high places by the time his Emperor Club shenanigans were revealed, but he started out as a very different person and politician than Bill Clinton. Clinton was an affable scamp with a twinkle in his eye, elected despite his known penchant for womanizing. He was the good ol' boy you might want to have along for a night on the town--lots of fun. People genuinely liked him.
Spitzer had not only a name and persona singularly lacking in attractiveness, but he was a very different sort of pol than Clinton. Spitzer fit perfectly in the mold of the hard-as-nails prosecutor, the crusader who might not have been the one you'd want with you when you were painting the town red, but the one you'd want out there protecting your wallet and/or your daughters.
And so Spitzer's dalliance with a girl young enough to be his daughter was not only a sign of hypocrisy, it destroyed what was really his only selling point: his straight-laced righteousness.
One commenter suggested that Clinton, Spitzer (and the prostitute Ashley for good measure) were all a bunch of sociopaths. Sort of true, but in my totally unprofessional opinion, Clinton and Spitzer are 2 different varieties of sociopath. Clinton is the more likeable kind. He wants to be bad and get away with it, but he likes to be bad because being bad is fun - for him and everyone else. Sure he breaks the rules, but in the end, everyone had a good time and has some stories to tell. He basically likes people, because people generate parties and other types of fun.
Spitzer is the puritanical, anhedonic kind of sociopath. People don't like him because he doesn't like them. This type thinks that if it feels good it must be bad, no matter what 'it' is. People like Spitzer think that to be mature, productive members of society they must deny themselves everything they enjoy - and they must force other people to do the same thing. Then after awhile, they start to resent giving up all joy in their life. They decide to be bad, they decide, in a very hostile way, to screw everyone who trusts them, not because its fun but because they 'deserve' some payback after sacrificing so much.
Ashley doesn't sound like a sociopath. She's a performer, or at least that's what she wanted to be. She got her wish, the spotlight is on her now. She's going to smile.
