Relationships

Another alpha male whose gonads served to ruin his reputation and career.  This was a man celebrated for his cerebral acuity, his academic mind brought to modernizing warfare by appealing to human values and by strategizing  carefully to accomplish goals that had evaded other military commanders.  Renowned for his acumen and his rectitude, his calm response and reliability during stress situations.

What a paean of praise the man earned for his turn-around of the war in Iraq, and his determination to apply a similar logic to the war in Afghanistan.  His spurt to fame and responsibility went on to elevate him to the powerful head of the CIA.  And talk of the potential of a future candidate for president of the United States.  Famously, a Bush senior headed the CIA before he became president.

This man was leadership quality writ large.  And now he may still be leadership quality in the style of Bill Clinton.  And John F. Kennedy.  Something about those high-powered males, it goes to their head and from there directly to their mid-section, then begins to burrow a little lower until it's game over and they've compromised themselves and their stations in life.

It's only, after all, human nature.  People do such things.  And such things are not extraordinarily out of whack with societal norms.  We like to pretend that we are all faithful to those to whom we pledge ourselves in perpetuity, and while some honour that convention, a greater balance do not because they can not; the appeal to stray when the opportunities are vibrant cannot be avoided.

The ego demands it, the id desires it, and endorphins aid the process.  The psyche insists on satisfaction in an exciting new enterprise.

It is beyond unfortunate that honour is also involved here, but human nature and human proclivities never bear simple fruit.  Moral ambiguity will bury the stoutest soul.  When he was still a general he insisted on the strict code that those serving in the military be above suspicion in their relations with the opposite sex.

This brilliant tactician and strategist allowed himself to falter from the straight-as-an-arrow path he had set for himself.  There was a positive side to all of this; he enjoyed himself, in a thrilling, forbidden enterprise.  And the negative, like a humped, ill-tempered crow black as Hades, now sits on his shoulders, career shattered, his wife equally so.

This personable man of huge talent and likeability, transgressed, moving from mentor to a professional protege with an agenda of her own, to willing partner in betrayal of his own core values.  In so doing, placing three marriages in peril.  And the children of those marriages may one day look back at the history they were part of; now insignificant.

For the time being, the public has much to talk about.  And Washington feels rather vexed about it all.
And General David Petraeus demonstrated surprisingly poor judgement.  This in and of itself is the critical issue in someone whose ability to make instant decisions of great value to his country was his vaunted entry to history.