Kara Miller: Politicians as People 5/31

This has been a tumultuous election year. And it’s only May.

Powerful politicians have been brought low. Independents have emerged as a force to be reckoned with. And angry, fist-in-the-air rhetoric has been everywhere.

But what could ultimately prove disastrous for our political system is a basic distrust of politicians as people. Of course, there have always been political scandals. But this year has been particularly ugly.

In January, former presidential candidate John Edwards – who once seemed a poster boy for wholesomeness – finally admitted that he had fathered Rielle Hunter’s child. For a nation that had watched Elizabeth and John Edwards scoop their young children, Emma Claire and Jack, into their arms – and had then followed Elizabeth’s battle with cancer – it was a jarring revelation. John Edwards’ duplicity was hard to fathom.

Less than two months later, another Democrat, New York Congressman Eric Massa, stepped down amidst allegations that he sexually harassed a staff member. Massa wrote in the lead-up to his resignation that Washington had become “incredibly toxic.” He was right, but Massa himself had helped create that toxicity, abusing the very power that voters had entrusted him with.

Mark Souder, a Republican representative from Indiana who submitted his resignation earlier this month, also added to that unhealthy political climate. Souder had long been a strong advocate of abstinence education and moral values. He frequently offered up his thoughts in Christian radio commentaries. Following a Congressional hearing on abstinence in April of 2008, Souder told staffer Tracy Jackson that those who opposed abstinence education opposed, quote “teaching morality.” Unfortunately, it turns out that Souder himself engaged in less abstinence than he preached. Though married for 36 years, he carried on an affair with that very same staffer - Tracy Jackson.
And then there’s the most recent example of political duplicity, the story of Democratic Senatorial Candidate Richard Blumenthal. Blumenthal has, on occasion, claimed to have served in Vietnam, though he did not. Unlike Edwards, Massa, and Souder, Blumenthal is still in politics, and it’s uncertain how heavily Connecticut voters will weigh his indiscretions.

What’s clear to many Americans, though, is that politicians seem to have a different moral compass, a compass that allows them to disconnect from reality and common sense, that steers them towards moral slogans but immoral behavior.

No one expects politicians to be completely honest and upfront, but when voters can’t count on basic decency, we’ve got a problem.