What is it with these guys? That question faces us with the depredations of power; a misled, disappointed search for intimacy; and the sickness at the heart of success.
The rot within. Political analysts stress the link between sexual excess and power. "It's yet another confirmation of the truth of Lord Acton's aphorism that 'power [tends to] corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely,' " says Ross Baker, professor of political science at Rutgers. For Strauss-Kahn and Schwarzenegger, he says, that became " 'power delights and absolute power is absolutely delightful.' For those delightful moments, these two powerful men are paying the price of public humiliation."
Narcissism and abuse. Politicians, studies suggest, are no more prone to affairs than nonpoliticians. But they live in a pressingly intimate world ripe for such encounters. On the May 18 Diane Rehm Show on NPR, Sandra Sobieraj-Westfall, Washington editor of People, told Rehm that public figures "become so cloistered by an apparatus of staff and pollsters and handlers . . . adoring . . . and enabling. . . . It does breed a sense of invincibility on top of an already superinflated ego."
Michele Swers, associate professor of government at Georgetown University, added that with Ensign, "you had adoring staffers who tried to protect him . . . and a story of sexual harassment and power over your employees." Eric Pape of Foreign Policy magazine said Strauss-Kahn enjoyed admiring throngs in finance, in politics, and in the classroom: "He had this job at the IMF that had him jet-setting around the world like he's a head of state. . . . It certainly creates a rock-star-like environment."
