Word: hartely
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Democracy demands accountability, both in the policies of its government and from those who wish to make those policies. Sometimes it extracts that accountability unwillingly, uncomfortably, untidily. As the Gary Hart campaign consumed itself with dizzying swiftness and Richard Secord detailed his intricate web, the U.S. received a painful accounting of leaders. All week there was a sense of the surface of things being stripped away, the underside of public life being exposed to view...
Americans think of themselves as tolerant, just as long as mistakes are admitted and explained, but are unforgiving of those who hide their errors behind a wall of indignation. Last week Gary Hart seemed to draw a curtain around his situation, rather than facing up to what was disquieting about his behavior. When asked in a TIME poll what would bother them more, only 7% cited extramarital sex, while 69% pointed to "not telling the truth." Likewise, as the Iran-contra affair has unfolded, Ronald Reagan has seemed to be evading the truth, rather than confronting it. When asked...
Underlying the discomfort at watching Hart and Secord is a renewed sense of unease about some of the country's practices and institutions. Once the private behavior of public figures was shielded from view. A conspiracy of croniness united press and politicians. But now all deals are off. The press can stake out the comings and goings of people at a private town house, as well as the takeoffs and landings of planes at unmarked Central American airstrips. But are there some realms of personal privacy and legitimate covert policy that ought not be exposed? Has the system for screening...
...character flaw as old as Icarus was in evidence last week. Behind all the revelations lurked arrogance, a modern hubris. Hart dared the press to stalk him, as though no disclosure could wound him. Secord disdainfully asserted that he could run foreign policy better than those designated to do so. And all along, the President assumed that no one would find out he was sending arms to Iran and evading, rather than enforcing, the ban on aid to the contras. They all wrapped themselves in their own misguided certainty, believing they were immune not only from harm but from public...
...matter of Gary Hart is not simple. One turns it in one's mind like an enigmatic object, and with each turning it glints with a different light. The questions raised last week are as complicated as Hart's mind, which is complicated indeed...