Thanks to Sen. Hillary Clinton’s “Living History,” and historian Robert Dallek’s “An Unfinished Life,” the strife and times of Bill Clinton and John F. Kennedy are with us again. Especially the salacious parts dealing with presidents and their paramour interns.
And that perennially pesky matter of public people and their private affairs.
Most of us would probably agree that what is done in private that doesn’t impact an official’s capacity to do the public’s work is nobody else’s business. The presidency, however, is different.
Anything that could compromise the person holding the most powerful position in the world is no mere private matter. Blackmail and national security concerns are the real issue — not morality or sleaziness. Whether the liaison is with an intern or a mob moll.
Too bad Clinton’s hero wasn’t Harry Truman instead of JFK.