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The Sad Saga of Eliot Spitzer
I am
watching the saga of Governor Eliot Spitzer
unfold in disbelief. Spitzer was nabbed in a
prostitution ring. His governorship, maybe his
family life, hangs in the balance. But beyond
any immediate personal or political
ramifications, this saga can tell us something
about our own views on leadership and
imperfection.
Spitzer was a rising
star. For eight years as New York's attorney
general, he won battles against corporate
corruption, Wall Street leaders, and organized
crime, so many that he took on mythic
qualities. TIME magazine once called him a
"crusader." 60 Minutes featured him. He won the
New York governorship in a landslide. Until
yesterday, some people had mentioned him as
presidential timber.
On one level,
Spitzer's story is similar to that of many
leaders in our society. We become infatuated
with them, even begin to worship them, believe
they can do no wrong, assigning them qualities
and expectations that too often are not humanly
possible to fulfill. Meantime, the leaders
themselves, mere mortals, begin to believe they
actually hold mythic powers, at times
exercising them with abandonment and hubris,
often leading to their own demise. All this
reminds me of sundry fables about young
wizards, who when they finally embrace their
own individual power, fail to understand its
true use, and especially its limitations.
On another level, the Spitzer saga
makes me think about notions of
"imperfection." I often think that in our
desire to ascribe mythic qualities to leaders,
we forget -- indeed, I think we actually seek
to deny -- the reality that we all, including
our leaders, are imperfect. Thus when
imperfections arise, we are ill-equipped to
discern their true meaning to us. We want
people to grovel or put forth false modesty
when caught, or we want their heads. Room to
gauge our failings gets squeezed out; we try to
ignore the reality that human imperfection
exists, until once more it is staring us right
in the face and cannot be escaped.
Because of the heights to which
Governor Spitzer soared, he may not be able to
withstand this fall from grace. According to
news accounts, the governor will resign in the
coming hours or days. This will be met by many
cheers, for many people took umbrage to his
leadership style, and now take great delight in
the public revelation of his personal
imperfections.
As I write this I am
thinking as well about the unfolding
presidential campaign and these two notions of
"leadership" and "imperfection." I often think
that we seek to attach ourselves to a candidate
in hopes that they will assume mythic qualities
and reflect perfection. When that reality is
punctured, we feel duped, jolted, even dismayed
that the leader could not fulfill our
expectations. And so we jump to the next
carrier of our sentiments and hopes, but
eventually we will be disappointed again
because we refuse to root our imagination and
aspirations in the reality in which we live.
Looking at Eliot Spitzer's career, I am
in awe of the courage he exercised in taking on
so many battles. He clearly put a stake in the
ground about what he valued and he stepped
forward time and again, against great odds, to
pursue his aspirations. Anyone who seeks real
change will be required to step forward in some
way. But I am also reminded that as we act
courageously we must exercise humility: that we
alone cannot change the world, but that we can
play a role; that in our victories we must
never take more credit than is due, nor gloat
in the defeat of others; and in our attempts to
create change, we must know there will be times
when we are wrong.
Which leads me to
one final thought: I am reminded of a personal
experience, of sitting once in the conference
room of a foundation President's office, along
with the Vice President, who turned to me and
said, "But you didn’t save this community." I
will never forget this moment. I turned to her,
looked her in the eye, and said, "Of course, I
didn’t. No one individual can. It will be the
people of this community, together, who will
put this town back on a better course." For me,
none of us should be caught in the trap that
one person will "save" us or that their words
and actions are perfect.
Thus, as we
engage in public life and politics, we must not
let ourselves or others take on mythic
qualities of leadership, no matter how good
those attributes feel or seem to fit, and we
must truly know that imperfection riddles us
all, and that we must always keep those
imperfections in mind so that we can find our
way to the right place.