Herman Cain is in the news yet again for reasons that have nothing whatsoever to do with his platform as a presidential candidate. Surprised? Well the real surprise is that it's not another allegation of sexual harassment -- thank god! This time it's a woman claiming she had a 13-year-long love affair with Cain.
A Georgia woman named Ginger White says they broke off the affair just before he announced his candidacy. Naturally Cain is denying it, though his lawyer hasn't exactly backed him up. Instead he issued a statement that all of us need to butt out of "the details of consensual conduct between adults." It's all pretty tawdry as usual -- and yet, I can't tell you how relieved I am to hear this news instead of yet another allegation of sexual harassment.
Don't get me wrong -- I'm not exactly thrilled to hear Cain cheated on his wife. I think it puts our trust in him into question. If he'll cheat on his wife, what else will he cheat on? But we're used to hearing about our elected leaders messing around on their wives. True, we usually hear about it after they're elected. But still, it's something that historically we've been willing to forgive. (Ahem, Newt Gingrich, Bill Clinton -- need I go on?)
Sexual harassment, on the other hand, is much worse in my opinion. It's infidelity to your spouse PLUS wielding your power in a hurtful, discriminating way. It's not consensual. And it reveals at the very least a general disrespect for women. You don't sexually harass a woman you consider your equal: You do it to make sure she knows who's boss. And that's not the kind of attitude toward women we need in the White House.
Of course, both the affair and the sexual harassment allegations, if true, are incredibly disrespectful to Cain's wife. And that's a problem, too. But if this affair were the only salacious story about Cain out there, he could probably survive. Sexual harassment charges just paint a fuller picture of how Herman Cain may see women -- and it's not pretty.
See this video on The Stir by CafeMom.
Which do you think is worse in a presidential candidate, allegations of an affair or allegations of sexual harassment?
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