Sex and the President: Part 3

Does the president's private sex life affect his public life? In an upcoming book entitled God, Sex, and Statesmanship, Marvin Olasky concluded that it does. The book, written before the president's current scandal, documents the lives of presidents and comes to some important conclusions.

As we have talked about the last two days, presidents who were unfaithful in their marriages developed ways to cover up their affairs. Often they used the same techniques to cover up affairs of state that they used to cover up affairs of the heart. Dr. Olasky concluded that "Faithfulness to a wife is no guarantee of faithfulness to the country; look at Richard Nixon. Faithlessness, however, is generally a leading indicator of trouble."

Let me also point out that even though some presidents were unfaithful, they are the exception. How many times have we heard in the last few weeks, that other presidents were guilty of the same behavior with which President Clinton has been charged? That simply is not true.

Critics charge that George Washington was the father of this country in more than just the moral sense. Or as one guest on the Geraldo Rivera show said, "He probably left splinters from his wooden teeth in someone's thigh, but no one was looking to report such matters then." Not true, says Dr. Olasky. British and Antifederalist journalists were looking for dirt in his past (especially in his early friendship with Sally Fairfax). Yet Washington was spotless.

Similar allegations have been made of presidents from Dwight Eisenhower to George Bush. But the evidence is always lacking. So the benefit of the doubt should be given to these presidents. They conducted themselves in honorable ways both in their presidencies and in their marriages.

Contrary to the claim of President Clinton's defenders, every president did not do it. But those who did created problems in their presidency.

I'm Kerby Anderson of Probe Ministries, and that's my opinion.

© 1998 Probe Ministries International