Wednesday, September 17, 2014

High Infidelity


 





In the first seasons of “Boardwalk Empire”, my Grandfather, Walter Edge, then a Senator from New Jersey, is often depicted enjoying the attentions of Atlantic City showgirls and strumpets as payment for favors he may or may not have bestowed on Boss Nucky Thompson. In his autobiography, Governor Edge, not surprisingly makes no mention of Boss Thompson or showgirls, although there is some question about receiving a smooch and hair-tousle from Josephine Baker some years later in Paris. 




There's a possibility he was between wives as Prohibition dawned, and, as my Grandmother was some twenty-eight years his junior, we'd like to think he wouldn't have required the company of showgirls, strumpets or other men’s wives. In any event, until modern media brought it to our attention, any indiscretions Governor Edge may have indulged in under the Boardwalk had been kept under wraps.


From the infamous “wide stance” to shenanigans on the Argentinean Appalachian Trail, much has been revealed in recent years concerning the infidelities of our most prominent and powerful politicians. Of course, this has been going on since the dawn of modern politics when Warren Harding was discovered pleasuring Nan Britton in a White House coat closet; we’ve just abandoned any sense of propriety that might have helped protect the likes of Dwight Eisenhower, F D R, Lyndon Johnson and Nelson Rockefeller from the sort of public disgrace and humiliation we've all come to expect and relish from the current crop of miscreants. With our global indulgence in the endless post-mortem of John F. Kennedy’s life, that reticence has gradually unraveled and vanished. Of the many trappings of power and entitlement that flow from these lofty positions, it seems that the compulsion and ability to attract paramours in the total absence of any physically attractive attributes is irresistible. Poor Jimmy Carter got busted just for thinking about it. And then, of course, there's Anthony Weiner, the man who embellished on Jimmy Carter's imaginary infidelity by bringing his own virtual perfidy into the computer age.

    
It was our privilege some years ago to attend a wedding reception at the Governor's Mansion in Princeton hosted by the young and attractive executive couple, Governor and Mrs. James McGreevey. Shaking hands with them over a spot of small talk in the receiving line, one could scarcely imagine the spectacular humiliation awaiting this rising star. There's something even more torrid, salacious and compelling when the protagonist not only switches partners but genders as well. Whereas a high-powered pol might have survived a few affairs back in The Day – boys will be boys, after all - this extra little frisson, the “outing” of the likes of Larry Craig, Mark Foley and McGreevey, pretty well drives a stake through the heart of any old whore-dog’s future. The further to the Right these transgressors are, the closer to the Scriptures they purport to cleave, the more fascinating their infidelities, which shouldn’t surprise us given the behavior of their counterparts in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church.



   How Bill Clinton not only survived his own blush-worthy humiliation but seems to have risen anew as an elder statesman and possible asset and councilor to the next President may take years to sort out. Why women in power haven’t felt the need to stray and strut their stuff – or at least haven’t been caught at it yet – is also an open question. From Margaret Thatcher and Golda Meir to Nancy Pelosi and Michelle Bachman, the possibilities are endless! Maybe having a powerful and entitled woman in the White House will put a temporary end to such philandering, at least at the executive level. It's hard to imagine Hillary buns up kneeling in the coat closet with some young page but, then again, it's just as hard to picture the likes of Warren Harding, Dwight Eisenhower or Lyndon Johnson in there, either!




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