Born Again...Politician

"Why do born-again people so often make you wish they'd never been born the first time?"
- Katherine Whitehorn

Newt Gingrich who has not been in politics since 1999, has returned with presidency on his heart. Now, the time he has spent away does not disqualify him in my book, however, along with his views, I also don't care for his hypocrisy. Many of my peers might not remember him at his prime, when he led the Republican takeover of the house or better yet when he led the masses to crucify former President Clinton after lying about his extramarital affair (I am sure we remember that, but Gingrich, not so sure). Well, turned out that Gingrich himself was involved in a 6year affair with a staff member while being married to his second wife at the same time as the crusades against Clinton were being held.

I'll be honest, I used to think - what does the mans private life have to do with his leadership ability? I have matured and it means a lot. - Sorry to use this connection but when pop stars beat up girlfriends and throw chairs into windows or come in and out of rehab it makes it hard to ignore all that and just focus on their music. Their actions outside of photo shoots, rehersals and albums seeps into our opinion of their music, their movie, their t.v show. Clinton, I'm sure to the many people who believed in him, betrayed their trust. It was like learning your father had been having an affair for years. You start to wonder how could that person have done this? Didn't they think of me and want to stop? Then there is the issue of their ability to make sound decisions. I mean if you can't say no to sex, then how the heck can you say no to screwed up policy? We no longer trust their judgement, kinda important in a leader. So what happens in the bedroom affects the public, and if you can't handle it don't run for president, don't strive for a music career, don't become a movie star.

So, back to Gingrich, leader of the "moral" party. Since him leaving from speaker of the house in 1999 he has gotten married to his then mistress, and has converted, and is now a Roman Catholic. I believe those are the changes he's pushing to the American public. Now I don't want it to seem like Gingrich has been living isolated in a farm somewhere...he is very involved in multiple initiatives and continues to offer his opinion and advice to the GOP on a public spectrum. So he is a new man as he presents himself and he believes thoroughly that all major leaders must step back before they can re-enter their domain (maybe in the future for Aristide in Haiti). Although not completely extracted he took a step back and is returning to politics on a way larger scale.

So are we going to hang over his head his infidelity or his hypocrisy? His private life and history is a bit...shady to say the least, but I won't use that as an argument against him entering the white house, although that is a pretty big one for me. I am just encouraging intelligent arguments not gossip. Lets tackle his ideas of replacing the importance of multiculturalism with patriotism in education; cutting more taxes (which is a large reason we are in the financial pickle we are in); privatizing medical care etc... lets not be like the birthers, lets stick to issues...