Skeletons in the Closet?

What do you want in a Presidential candidate? Political Experience? Leadership? Good looks, nice hair, a well tailored suit perhaps? How about honesty? Is honesty truly important in a candidate? Think about it carefully before you answer, because what people say and what they really believe are apparently two different things.

Consider the following. In his book “The Audacity of Hope,” as well as several speaking engagements, Senator Barack Obama admits that there was a time in his life when he engaged in some unwise behavior – in particular, his high school experimentation with alcohol and drugs. He has also stated, in no uncertain terms, that his drug use was a mistake of his youth and certainly something he is not proud of. Some people might call such disclosure honesty from a politician. Others, like former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney call that “unwise.”

According to governor Romney, “in order to leave the best possible example for our kids, (why is everything about the kids?) we’re probably not wisest to talk about our own indiscretions in great detail.” These words of wisdom contain a couple, oh, let’s call them errors, but one overarching truth.

First, simply stating that one has used drugs and alcohol does not constitute a description in “great detail.” For a description of drug use in great detail, rent Trainspotting or Pulp Fiction.

Second, kids may be a lot things, but they are not stupid. They may act stupid, they may do stupid things and they might make stupid decisions, but they are not stupid. They know a phony when they see one. Do you think there was one kid in America who believed Bill Clinton when he made the asinine statement that he tried marijuana but didn’t inhale? Everybody knows he inhaled – probably more than once – on multiple occasions. Do you think there was one high school or college kid in America who believed Bill Clinton when he said he did not have sex with that woman? We certainly were HOPING that the President of the United States of America could do better than Monica Lewinsky, but we all KNEW better. Nothing damages your credibility with kids more than telling them something is one way, then having them find out later on that it isn’t. We defer to soldiers in discussions of military tactics, we defer to physicians in discussions of medicine, why would we not assign greater credibility to someone who has defeated the demons of drugs and alcohol when discussing their harmful effects with children?

Those two minor details aside, the implication of Romney’s statement is absolutely correct. He is well aware of one simple fact. The voting public is extremely uncomfortable with the idea of an honest candidate. It simply doesn’t make any sense. If a candidate were truly honest, why would he or she need a team of handlers and public relations personnel to control his or her image in the media? It doesn’t matter how revealing a candidate is, people will always assume that there is a deeper, darker, dirtier secret tucked away in their closet. We don’t want the truth about our elected officials straight from the source, we want it from the breathless CNN reporter live on the scene with the hastily prepared notes, the producer breaking in on the earpiece, and the stupid quote from the wacky neighbor. We don’t want honesty. We want scandal. Because it doesn’t feel like the truth unless we “discover” it for ourselves. Then - and only then – after we have outed them and shamed them and demanded they repent their sins and throw themselves on the mercy of the public, then we inform them that this entire charade could have been avoided if they had just been honest with everyone to begin with. “If only he had just come out and told everyone that he tried drugs in high school, realized they were dangerous and never touched them again we would have understood and not penalized him for it.” Right?

I don’t have an explanation for the gotcha culture we so gleefully embrace. Nor and I gullible enough to believe that in most cases, honesty from a politician is anything more than an attempt to cover his or her butt from any future scandal. But every now and then it is refreshing to run across a candidate who is unafraid to discuss at least a portion of his past most others would be too afraid to confront. Someone who feels that sometimes more information, presented in context, really is better than less. I think I know who’s America I’d rather live in.