Usually, I'll do one "Sunday Feature" post, discussing one important issue that I've either written about in the last week, or something I've recently discovered. This week, however, I'm planning two.
My first "Sunday Feature" is focused on the Eliot Spitzer sex scandal.
On Monday afternoon, around 2 pm, the New York Times published an article on its website about Eliot Spitzer meeting with his senior aides about his involvement in a prostitution ring. I like to believe i was one of the first teo hear about. I was downstairs at my school's computer lab, with two senior friends of mine, when we first accidentally stumbled upon it. One of my friends actually worked in Spitzer's office, so he was frantically trying to find information about it. I originally thought Spitzer probably helped the prostitution ring financially, because of the Times article's vagueness. I couldn't conceive of another political figure getting caught with his pants down, so to speak. Yet, at 3 pm, Spitzer held a conference admitting his inappropriate behavior. Surprisingly, his wife Silda stood by his side. Unsurprisingly, she looked like she wanted to die up there; it almost seemed like she was forced to stand by her cheating husband. By the time I came home, every news channel was focused on it, with even more information being revealed. It seemed like, with every blog post I made, a whole new torrent of revelations was released onto the salacious public.
The next 4 days could only be described as chaos. Reporters were stationed outside of his NY apartment, the Capitol in Albany, and outside of David Paterson's residence. It's nothing atypical of a scandal; whenever a public figure makes a public gaffe, of course there will be interest. This was significantly different, however. Eliot Spitzer was known in New York as "The Steamroller". He made a career out of taking down corruption in Wall Street and prostitution rings. He made indignant statements about the evils of bad business and immoral behavior. He was lauded for his efforts by the press; he was hated by Wall Street. Here was the man who took down crime, not participated in it. "The higher they rise, the harder they fall."
I have heard many people, from reporters to politicians, call this a tragedy. Unfortunately, it really isn't. I definitely feel for his wife and three kids, whose lives have been completely destroyed as they knew it, but I definitely wouldn't call this scandal tragic. A man, in a position of power, decided that he was above the law he spent years trying to serve. He decided his family and his job was worth the risk and participated in many illegal affairs that cost him (or the state?) tens of thousands of dollars. It is not a tragedy because situations like this have happened before. Jim McGreevey, Larry Craig, President Clinton, to name a few. He knew the consequences his actions could have caused, but he didn't care. Chances are, had he not been caught, he would've continued. But the fates were against him, and the consequences, greater than he could've ever imagined. Cameras everywhere, a state government frozen, impeachment threats, a humiliating resignation. So, how can Eliot Spitzer's scandal be classified? Just like other politician sex scandals.
Unlucky.
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