Bill Clinton and Eliot Spitzer

Your assignment: Compare and contrast Bill Clinton and Eliot Spitzer and their sex scandals. On the surface not much is the same other than the fact that they are horn dogs who got caught.

Both committed crimes but only one was expected to resign. This one is for New York Democrats. Since many Democrats felt that former Gov. Spitzer should resign, tell me why Bill Clinton should not have. As you remember Clinton was having an affair with an of age intern. No crime there. He lied under oath in a civil suit. Perjury is a felony. Spitzer committed a multitude of crimes. Asking him to step down is a no-brainer. That is a given, but the argument as to why he should resign and the Bill should not have I believe breaks down.

In the case of Clinton the act was not illegal but in the case of Spitzer the act was illegal. This of course is the biggest difference. Anyone making the case I mentioned above will of course point this out. I think it has to do with more. At first the Clinton story was icky. Many people can relate to a man cheating on the job (I didn't say condone I said identify). Very few people man or women can identify with a man contracting a hooker high price or not. I think very few people can identify with dropping $5,000 for sex. The lack of personal identification I believe has a lot to do with the different treatment. Most people at least know of someone who has cheated on their spouse. I can't think of anyone in my life that has been with a hooker. Again knowing of someone is not the same as condoning.

Another big difference I see is one of person and political capitol. Bill Clinton was loved by people in his party. They were willing to look the other way at his sleaze. Eliot Spitzer by all indications didn't have a lot of people watching his back. Politically he seems to have been a brass knuckle politician who seemed to enjoy destroying people. When that type of person goes wrong, not a lot of people are willing to go to bat for you.

The moral of the story? Lots of them. Sleaze is not limited to one party. If you are going to be slimy, make some friends on the way up. If you are going to be the moral avenger maybe it would be a good idea to know what morals are.

The real moral? We are the voters and the employers of these people. If you are voting for someone because they have the best chance of winning, you may end up with slime ball.