“I dabbled into witchcraft. I never joined a coven. But I did dabble in witchcraft. I hung around people who were doing these things. … One of my first dates with a witch was on a satanic altar, and I didn’t know it. I mean, there’s little blood there and stuff like that. We went to a movie and then had a midnight picnic on a satanic altar.”

And with these few sentences Delaware Senate Republican Party nominee Christine O’Donnell was launched into a controversy unparalleled by her already tumultuous campaign.

For those of you not up on politics, O’Donnell is a Tea Party-backed politician who on Sept. 14 won a shocking primary victory over more highly favored and more moderate candidate Mike Castle. Since her victory, O’Donnell has been thrust into the spotlight, in large part due to her past appearances on television shows where she has discussed her what some would call strange and/or radical beliefs.

O’Donnell already has problems such as a perceived inability to win in the general election and controversy over her campaign finance reports. But the majority of the media attention on her has been because of her past statements, particularly the witchcraft comments.

And it got me thinking about whether past indiscretions affect a person’s ability to lead or govern properly, and whether it is fair for the media to drudge up every facet of a person’s past simply because they are running for a political position.

O’Donnell is far from the first politician, and she will surely not be the last, to have their pasts used against them. Look no further than our past three presidents.

President Obama has admitted to smoking marijuana and using “blow,” or cocaine. It is all but certain that George W. Bush has had his fair share of alcohol, marijuana and cocaine. And Bill Clinton also admitted to marijuana use, but tried to dodge full disclosure with his now-famous line that he smoked but “didn’t inhale.” Other prominent politicians such as Newt Gingrich and Al Gore have also admitted to smoking marijuana.

I think that whether or not the politician is willing to come forward and own up to their past indiscretions has a large impact on how much media attention and controversy will be devoted to the topic. I could be wrong, but I feel as though Obama’s drug use was not as big of a deal as Bush’s was.

While there could be other reasons for this difference, I think a large part of it is that Obama clearly admitted what he had done and did not try to hide it. Bush, on the other hand, tried to skirt the issues. This just lead to greater speculation that spun out of control.

 I think that the public respects honesty in politicians. I believe that they would rather have their politicians have everything out in the open so they can feel as though they are trustworthy. Keeping things a secret and then having it come out later will hurt the politician in the long run.

But should what someone did in their past even matter? I can understand both sides of the debate.

On one hand, I think that someone’s past actions can reflect on them as people. But many people make mistakes and learn from them, and can grow up and change.

So on the other hand, I don’t think that someone should be persecuted for decisions that took place in a time in their lives where they are supposed to be allowed to make mistakes.

In addition, some people do not know what they want to do with the rest of their lives when they are in high school and college. Are we suggesting that all politicians should have known they wanted to become politicians at a young age, and from that point forward they are not allowed to engage in any adolescent behavior that their peers get to enjoy?

As someone who does not know exactly what I want to do for the rest of my life, and is a political science major, I would not want all of my previous mistakes coming back to haunt me if I decided I wanted to run for office someday. I do not think that a select few actions define someone as a person.

I believe that long-term patterns say far more about a person. If any of these politicians were true drug addicts, that might call into question their ability to lead and hold office.

But everyone is different and makes mistakes in their own ways, even if that means (though I’m not endorsing this) dabbling in a little witchcraft.

 

To contact The Ionian’s Michael O’Connor, e-mail him at [email protected].