Should personal life disqualify you from public office?

Gaze

Gaze

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Ok, so George Clooney has recently said, after being prompted to consider it, that he wouldn't run for political office because he has done too many things which would be considered scandalous in his personal life which would probably call his reputation into question.

Now, my real question is NOT whether George Clooney should run for office but whether people with colorful backgrounds should be allowed to run for office and be elected without those incidents being counted against them or without it having a negative effect on their credibility? Should the careers of career politicians and celebrities be evaluated the same when considering who should be able to run for public office?


George Clooney, aka Mr. Sudan, says his life wasn't led 'in the right way for politics'



February 24, 2011 | 3:39 pm



George Clooney says he's no saint when it comes to running for office, but he knows he can parlay his star power to advocate for a good cause.
"I didn't live my life in the right way for politics, you know," he told Newsweek while stationed in Sudan, where he's sublimating his celebrity status to help people fight for their rights. He said he slept with "too many chicks and did too many drugs, and that's the truth."

So if he were to run, he says he'd "start from the beginning by saying, 'I did it all. I drank the bong water. Now let's talk about issues.' That's gonna be my campaign slogan: 'I drank the bong water'?" he jokes.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/gossip/2011/02/george-clooney-politics.html
 
Fact of the matter is that politicians were taking personal shots as far back as Andrew Jackson(they most likely happened even earlier but his was exceptionally bad as far as personal attacks went). Whether you like it or not it will be put on the table; and most politicians will move heaven and earth to bury most black marks or at least make themselves look cleaner than their opponent.
 
well obviously the word "chick" seems to have passed out of the political discourse!

but certainly far too much ad hominem argument flying around in politics. although the sarah palin episode was really something. "a new kind of leader". it would require zero work to refigure as a truly great american melodrama.
 
i think it's amusingly telling that "politics" is also used in everyday parlance to refer to this kind of manoeuvring for power or privilege that bears absolutely no connection with merit or reason. i can't concentrate on politics personally. and have formed the habit of casting donkey votes.
 
I think the fact of the matter is, is that people do take into account what people are like in private when they're voting.

Now I'm strongly affiliated with the Australian Labor party, so I wouldn't jump ship if the Prime Minister Candidate or someone was found to have led a questionable lifestyle, but in my mind I would prefer someone who was happily married and had morals similar to mine than the choice on offer. However that wouldn't prevent me from voting for the person, because of my political ideals.

What would concern me however is how the person deals with their private life. If they had taken lots of drugs and were therefore advocating legalising said drugs, then that would be something I couldn't get behind, and it would cause me not to vote for them.
 
I think that everything a politician does says something about him (or her). For me, it's less a matter of disqualifying people for what they've done and more about knowing who we're electing. We know that politicians, necessary or otherwise, are often very two-faced. You have to read between the lines of what the media says and what the politicians themselves say, because people just aren't that honest in that world.

Really the only question (for me) is what they will probably do when they get into office. I think personal life is usually not that telling. As long as they seem like the will commit to what they said they'll do, I would ignore the personal details.
 
Good on you george, i drank the bong water as well

He'd get my vote especially if he wanted to legalise drugs. Education not prohibition....let adults be adults, but give them the tools they need to do things in a safe and beneficial way instead of this corrossive and oppressive system we have at the moment that drives stuff under ground and represses things with the effect that it forces energies to follow more destructive paths
 
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Of course they can run. It's up to voters not to vote for them if that's the case. We don't need to "censor" our elections.
 
I would be inclined to trust more someone who is frank about their previous experiences, than someone who looks squeaky clean on paper, and acts like that in public but is something else entirely when no one is looking.
 
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