Transatlanticism: Politics and Sexual Scandals

Alan Dershowitz, arguably one of the most famous faculty members of Harvard Law School, must enjoy being unpopular. In 2002, he began advocating in favor of legalizing torture. In 2006, he defied international outcry in a series of articles that argued that Lebanese civilians killed by Israeli bombs were fair game, and compared Lebanon's collective culpability to Austria under the Nazis. In the face of mounting criticism against the Israel lobby and its outsize influence in Washington, he accused former President Carter and professors Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer of bigotry and anti-semitism. These days, he is one of the few people defending New York's Governor, Eliot Spitzer, recently linked to a prostitution ring and likely to experience one of the most vertiginous political downfalls in memory.

Professor Dershowitz contends that the politicians' minor sexual peccadilloes are private matters that should not be exploited for political purposes, and that this would never happen in Europe. According to him, sexual scandals get bumped to the lifestyle section of the newspaper and then fade away. This is just another manifestation of the transatlantic gap, and most Europeans would proudly agree. François Mitterrand had numerous extramarital affairs but went on to become the longest serving President of France. The pornstar Ilona Staller, known as Cicciolina, was elected in 1987 to a seat in the Italian Parliament, representing the Lazio district of Rome. Pim Fortuyn, the anti-immigration and anti-Islam Dutch politician murdered by an animal rights activist, was believed to have had sex with Moroccan teenagers. Europeans carry these anecdotes like badges of honor, and never miss an opportunity to mock American puritanism.

However, the transatlantic divide is not as wide as Dershowitz suggests. A quick review of sexual scandals involving politicians offers a mixed bag: on both sides of the Atlantic, some political careers survived, while others were doomed. In the United States, President Clinton held very high approval ratings in the aftermath of the Lewinsky scandal. "Gropegate" did not damage Arnold Schwarzenegger, who became Governor of California. Representative Mark Foley resigned, but senators Larry Craig and David Vitter kept their seats. Barack Obama's first adversary in his senatorial race, Jack Ryan, dropped out after his wife filed for divorce and aired her husband's uncommon sexual habits. So did Senator Gary Hart when he ran for President in 1988. But JFK remains one of America's most popular presidents, and he was hardly a boy-scout. In Europe, sexual scandals have dogged the careers of many politicians. Angela Merkel feared for the stability of her coalition cabinet because Günter Verheugen, the Vice President of the European Commission, was having an affair with his chief of staff. The Scottish politician Tommy Sheridan is still battling one of Rupert Murdoch's tabloids. The pretender to the Italian crown, the prince Vittorio Emmanuele, spent time in jail in 2006 due to his connection to a prostitution ring. And many believe that the Profumo Affair in 1963, involving John Profumo and a prostitute, helped topple the Conservative government of Harold MacMillan. Even the French (!) are slightly bothered by President Sarkozy's choice of the supermodel Carla Bruni as his new wife.

Nevertheless, we are mixing apples and oranges. Spitzer is likely to be charged with a federal crime, after making a name for himself busting prostitution rings. It is a story that writes itself, regardless of cultural idiosyncrasies. It is patently untrue that a case similar to Eliot Spitzer would not make it to the front page of European newspapers. In fact, Spitzer's case itself did make it to the cover of many European newspapers that had never even mentioned him before. Imagine that Judge Garzón had been found to spend a small fortune in cocaine for his private use after devoting a lifetime sending cocaine smugglers to prison; if Beppe Grillo had been accused of corruption after decades of unmasking the corruption of others; or if Eliot Ness had been buying for himself some of Al Capone's alcohol during Prohibition. Those would be fairer comparisons to Spitzer's case than Mitterrand's double life. Europeans may be more tolerant than Americans towards nudity, but are equally uneasy with corruption, hypocrisy, and wrongdoing.

Italy might be an exception. With twenty-four convicted legislators and fifty-seven appealing guilty verdicts, Italy is in a category of its own. Perhaps if Professor Dershowitz used Italy as a frame of reference, he could aptly argue that Spitzer's expensive philandering is just a drop in the bucket. That way he could continue to antagonize public opinion and common sense.