I still remember the first time I heard the term “erectile dysfunction.” It came from the wrinkly lips of Bob Dole. Woah, too much information, I thought. Or was it?
Recent news events have raised questions about how much the public should know or want to know about our politicians’ personal lives.
In our 24-hour news culture, the public expects to be updated about every minute detail in the lives of our public figures. If Britney Spears shaves her head, we want video. If George Bush falls off his bicycle, we want pictures of his bandaged knee. Which may seem to be harmless at first, until the media begins to go too far to please their viewers.
During finals week, John and Elizabeth Edwards announced that Mrs. Edwards, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004, now has incurable, but treatable, cancer on her ribs. John Edwards confirmed that he and his family would continue with life as usual, and he would not stop campaigning for the presidency.
“You’re putting your work first and your family second,” CBS’s Katie Couric accused John Edwards, during a television interview with the couple.
I watched the awkward interview in full when it aired. Each time Couric spoke she seemed to be secretly wondering why Mrs. Edwards wasn’t already crawling into her coffin.
The American people are accustomed to receiving an overabundance of information from the media. We love hearing about the mistakes and struggles our celebrities endure and, most importantly, second-guessing these decisions. This is even more true in regard to our elected officials because their decisions reflect upon and affect us.
William Chou, a biomedical engineering graduate student agrees
“Damn it, if they are going to represent us, we deserve to know … everything,” Chou said.
This attitude is a fairly recent phenomenon.
Just a few decades ago, the press declined to reveal that Franklin D. Roosevelt was handicapped. Just a few years ago, however, the entire country was hanging on former President Bill Clinton’s words as he attempted to schmooze his way through an impeachment trial about whether or not he had gotten a blow job in the Oval Office.
Wary of being targets of this kind of media scrutiny, politicians have begun airing their dirty laundry themselves.
In his book, presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama casually mentioned in his book, “Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance,” that during his youth he drank alcohol, smoked weed, and did cocaine.
Would Obama have volunteered this if he thought the media would never have been able to find out? Probably not. A sincere confession comes off much better than an independent expose.
So what should the Edwardses have done instead? The vigilant eyes of today’s media would prevent Elizabeth from making like FDR and pretending that nothing was wrong.
A reporter has yet to interrogate Mitt Romney, a Republican candidate for president, about his wife, Ann, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998.
And as far as I know, no one is calling for the resignation of White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, who recently learned that the colon cancer he was diagnosed with in 2005 has spread to his liver.
So why are the Edwardses being second-guessed about their personal decisions when the media has seemed content to leave the problems of other famous politicos alone?
Perhaps people feel as if they have a stake in what goes on in Edwards’ life. Mitt Romney isn’t yet viewed as a serious contender for the presidency. And Tony Snow, though famous, doesn’t make any decisions that could affect our lives or the country.
Although I’d prefer overly honest politicians to habitual liars, it is unfortunate that, thanks to our curious media, we now expect to be informed of every personal trial our leaders go through.
It’s time to scale back and give these people some breathing room because we don’t deserve to know everything, Even if we did, we shouldn’t want to. It causes our politicians to focus more on PR than poverty. Just think about what Clinton could have accomplished during all the hours he spent thinking about the definition of the word “is.”
Being more respectful of our politicians’ private lives also gives us time to focus on what they’re so busy doing in their public lives and with public (i.e. our) money.
Which loser will take Dole’s place as Viagra spokesman? E-mail Strickland at kstrickland@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.