The fallout from this has far reaching implications as just this morning another top United States official, General John Allen, commander of American forces in Afghanistan, is now under investigation because of potential “inappropriate communications” he conducted with Jill Kelley, a social liaison.
The Pentagon is now investigating all the communications between the involved parties. As members of the United States military and the CIA these men have an obligation to the American people not to allow access to privileged information to unauthorized individuals.
The question that is being asked however is, should General Petraeus have had to resign because of the affair? The larger question however is that should public figures be held to higher standards than the rest of us? Is General Petraeus just a regular guy in a position of power and thus is just as likely to make the mistakes of a “regular guy” or should he take more care to ensure appropriate behavior?
Does our view of these figures change when their very human mistakes become fodder for the public? President Clinton’s administration was tarnished by his affair, however former presidents are not normally criticized in the same way for very similar actions; Kennedy, FDR, Eisenhower, all had mistresses (and the list goes on)… does this fact change their legacies? Should they have been removed from office or forced to resign as Petraeus did?
Your thoughts…?