THE ULTIMATE APHRODISIAC

I was fascinated to read in the papers this morning of the arrest for alleged rape by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the International Monetary Fund and a contender to replace Nicholas Sarkosy as President of France. The victim was a 32-year old African maid at his posh New York (three grand per night) hotel suite. M. le ministre Strauss-Kahn has a long record of infidelities and, to put it mildly, a prolific and active sex life.

The first thought I had was how difficult it will be for the maid who doubtless will be facing a battery of the highest-paid lawyers big money can buy. The second thought was to remember an adage from Henry Kissinger: "Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac."

It is quite amazing the number of powerful politicians or power brokers who are frequently caught with their flies open. The obvious Presidential types like John Kennedy, Bill Clinton, Warren Harding (who, in case you didn't know it, was caught IN FLAGRANTE DELICTO in a closet under the stairs in the White House with his secretary who was doing more than taking dictation), Thomas Jefferson and, I’m sure a few others. Joe Kennedy was a master diddler and, among many others, had Gloria Swanson as a mistress. Randolph Hearst for many years “sponsored” the actress Miriam Davis when they lived in his palace, Xanadu, in Big Sur. Congress is filled with tales of lust and many forced out of office by sexual scandals. In any case, power and lust are partners like bread and butter---they just seem to go together.

Power seems to go the head (which one, take your choice---both, to my mind) and makes the instigator think that somehow he is immune and above the law. In the old days, it seemed this was true. For example, the press liked Jack Kennedy. They knew he was playing around constantly but they looked the other way. Watergate and Vietnam changed all the journalistic ground rules, and the doors were flung wide open. But that doesn’t stop the sexual predator who looks on conquests as a game and feels he will always be the victor.

It will be interesting to see how the Strauss-Kahn case turns out. Of course, the French, the Italians and the Greeks are used to these political shenanigans and simply shrug their shoulders. But getting charged in New York and a probable trial might even get their attention..

As Fats Waller used to say, “One never knows, do one?”