Obama may find silver lining in the fall of Petraeus

[unhappycamper]

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/news-analysis/obama-may-find-silver-lining-in-the-fall-of-petraeus-16237595.html

Obama may find silver lining in the fall of Petraeus
Thursday, 15 November 2012

Few would describe the resignation of David Petraeus in such tawdry circumstances as anything other than a tragedy - for himself, for his family and for the other families involved.

~snip~

However, prominent Americans who allow themselves to become marriage paragons clearly invite trouble (think Bill 'n' Hill).

For all the raunchiness of Hollywood and the permissiveness of New York, American culture has a deeply conformist and puritanical strain - perhaps even more so for those in public life. How else to explain why another accomplished general, Dwight Eisenhower, conducted a long affair with impunity, why JFK's promiscuity was no bar to his holding the highest office, while Clinton was impeached for covering up his relations with Monica Lewinsky?

Politics, double standards and the vicissitudes of the moral climate all determine the official response to adultery and there have been plenty of Americans arguing that Petraeus did not need to fall on his sword for a short affair both parties accepted was over.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

1. Most on the right still deny

Eisenhower's affair with Summersby...America does not have a conformist culture all be itself. America has a political party that ignores it's own flaws and focused like a laser beam on the flaws of the other party.

[Scuba]

2. David Vitter and Newt Gingrich as shocked at and offended by Gen. Petraeus behavior.