A Tale of Two Men

About fourteen or fifiteen years ago, details began to surface in the media indicating that Bill Clinton had had an affair with a young intern while in the White House.  Clinton denied every allegation, wagging his finger with angry self-righteousness at the press -- and by proxy, at the American people -- telling us all, "Now you listen to me: I did not have sexual relations with that woman . . . "  As information started coming out of the woodwork, he and his people (including his wife), blamed it all on a "vast right-wing conspiracy" to bring him down.  And the stories continued to swirl.

Only when the entire country seemed to be thoroughly convinced of his falsehoods did he make a public confession of sorts.  A calculated statement that vaguely confessed to doing something "wrong" and urged the country to let him deal with that on his own and move on.  He continued to insist that what he had done did not qualify as sexual relations, quabbled about the meaning of the word "is", and continually blamed his political opponents for choosing to make this an issue and not "moving on".  We moved on with impeachment proceedings which divided the country and allowed this man to appear a martyr to the liberal cause.  And ultimately, even though his womanizing ways have become a national joke, he is one of the best loved (??) and most listened to (!!) former presidents alive.

This is called self-marketing and chutzpah.

In the last few weeks, details have apparently been surfacing behind the scenes at the CIA indicating that Director David Petraeus had engaged in sexual misconduct.  Little is known as yet about the details of this thing, but before any of the rest of the world had heard boo about it, Petraeus was in the President's office offering his resignation.  He immediately made a public statement to the country confessing specifically to his lack of wisdom and an extramarital affair.  He humbly admitted to his wrongs and accepted the disgrace that would result.

This is called humility and integrity.

That is the way to do this, folks.

Just sayin'.