It will be a free-for-all in State politics this week as SA Premier Mike Rann finds his private life exposed. We will be reminded of why the 'private life' of a politician in this country has traditionally been regarded as off limits. Will the Labor Party take the opportunity to mudsling in the other direction? I noticed a brief clip of Liberal Chris Pyne saying yesterday that private lives of politicians have by and large been left alone. In these latter more desperate days this tradition seems to be evaporating before our eyes.
One can see little good come of this. Despite the fact that Rann has been highly successful (well at least he has managed to stay in office for a long time) we, the public, will see his legacy reduced to some grubby little stories about an alleged affair.
Is this appropriate? does it matter?
To my mind it does matter whether a person lies or not. It does matter if they treat other people (however consensually) poorly!
This was the problem with the Lewinski affair. Clinton lied. He treated Lewinski poorly,and his wife even worse.
There seem to be some elements in this present business that may have the same sort of thing.
All in all, were I Mike Rann I would be inclined to think that enough is enough, and it's time to go. But I won't hold my breath!
2 comments:
I think the real questions, no matter if Rann has lied or not, is do we really want the current Liberal Party (or is it Liberal Shamozzle) in charge ?
I don't think this is the real question. It is certainly a question.
I was personally impressed by the force with which Rann came out today. This may have been bluster, but (and he avoided saying "I did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinski")he was pretty forceful.
I think it does matter if he is a liar.
I think it probably matters if he was encouraging her to be an adulterer.
But at least he doesn't want to get himself tasered!
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