I Am Not A Crook

“I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewisnky”
- Bill Clinton

So when does a scandal matter? John Ensign received a little extra attention from the New York Times, chronicling his successful efforts to place his mistress’ husband in a lobbying firm that had business before the Senate. He violated a number of Federal laws to do so. Still Mr. Ensign remains in the Senate.

Then there is the case of John Edwards. Edwards violated no laws and is a pariah, sitting alone at his estate in the ashes of his public life.

So why do some scandals matter and others don’t? Why does Watergate still reverberate through the national political life, and Iran Contra is just a trivia question for old lefties and political junkies? Why does Whitewater not hinder the Clintons, but hinders the Republicans?

For a scandal to matter it needs to contain several elements. First the person involved must be shown to have clearly violated the law or some deep social precept held by their constituents. The White House tapes proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Nixon was personally committing crimes. He also violated the trust of his base. Nixon drew on hardworking people who felt others were using their position of privilege to work them over and get special treatment. They also had a very conservative Civics class textbook view of how the government worked.

Nixon’s obvious use of his position to work over his enemies and escape responsibility violated their sense of fair play. His actions betrayed all he had told them about himself and his world view. He had in their eyes gone over to the other side.

That is also the difference between John Edwards and John Ensign. Edwards violated everyone’s sense of decency, while at the same time coming across as a heartless user. Whereas Ensign promised and delivered jobs as part of his cover-up, those actions fell within the low expectations voters have for their leaders.

The turning point for Edwards was not that he fathered a child, but his open planning of his wedding to his mistress after the death of his wife. He violated everyone’s sense of decency and honor. He did this after presenting himself as compassionate fighter for the everyman. Voters felt conned, which makes them madder than feeling ripped off. Furthermore, Democrats cannot forgive his risking a McCain presidency by running with such a large skeleton in his closet.

For a scandal to stick, it also has to be easily understood. No one really understood all the ins and outs of Whitewater, but they understood clearly what was at stake in Watergate. Whitewater became a grab-bag of all the things the Republicans wanted to use to get Clinton. Republicans never established a clear definition of the scandal or what was at stake. Instead Whitewater hurt the Republicans by establishing their narrative as obsessed, partisan and self-centered. Voters didn’t understand Whitewater, but they understood the rabid partisanship that brought the country to a standstill while the Republicans impeached a President for an issue most felt was a family matter

Watergate was about a President operating outside the law. The Democrats framed the scandal that way and everything Nixon did to defend himself played into that narrative. He was doomed the moment he started to cover-up. Had he gone on TV, like Reagan did when it looked like he would be impeached for Iran-Contra, and accepted responsibility, Watergate would have been a footnote in history along with Iran-Contra.

The voters need to have the political will to hold the politician accountable. On a national scale, once Reagan accepted responsibility for Iran-Contra, people were too exhausted by Watergate to try and hold Reagan to any further account. America considered the matter closed. Nixon never accepted responsibility for Watergate. He left it on the table for Ford to deal with. In trying to close it, Ford kept the issue open for votes with his pardon of Nixon

Louisiana voters are forgiving of the shortcomings of their elected officials. Voters sent Edwin Edwards to the Governor’s office 4 times - once while he was under Federal indictment. Edwards once said the only way he would lose re-election was if he were found in bed with a live boy or dead girl. Vitter was caught with neither and seems a lock to return the Senate.

Voters in Massachusetts were equally forgiving of Rep. Barney Frank. They overlooked his transgressions with a male prostitute who operated out of Frank’s Washington house. Both Vitter’s and Frank’s actions were scandals that were easy to understand, but both accepted responsibility and neither violated voter’s precepts of acceptable social norms. New Orleans is known as a good time town, and Massachusetts is more tolerant of gay activity than Idaho is over wide stances.

The lesson is then, to survive scandal, keep it complex, don’t step outside of voters expectations of your corruption and own up to it the moment you are caught.