Apparently, Maine Democrat Senate candidate Graham Platner never read Sun Tzu.
Sun Tzu, of course, is the legendary ancient Chinese general and military strategist. He is credited with writing the classic book on military strategy, The Art of War.
Safe to say, Tzu’s book of military strategy has been around a while. He is said to have been born in 544 BC and died in 496 BC. His book is seen even today as a classic. Basic reading for any strategist out there, military, political, or otherwise.
It is apparently safe to say that now-derailed Maine Democrat Senate candidate Graham Platner either never read The Art of War or, if he did, never took in its wisdom.
One of Tzu’s central tenets is this one:
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
It is crystal clear at this point that candidate Platner did not know himself. By which I mean, Platner had to know his own background of sexual misconduct allegations from various women. And knowing them, he should have known that if he pursued a decidedly public campaign for the United States Senate, these allegations, with accusers attached, would make their way into what politicians politely call “opposition research.”
Which is to say, his opposition’s political dirt diggers would be out there rummaging through his past, for anything political, but most importantly for anything personal. And if, or in this case, when, his various female problems were discovered, they would inevitably be dragged into the spotlight.
And, with all the predictability of rain in a thunderstorm, that is exactly what happened.
This was an entirely predictable event. Everybody in America is granted the freedom to live their life as they see fit. And if they, for whatever reason, screw up and have a record of alleged or real personal misconduct — and they choose to run for public office? Safe to say — make that very safe to say — particularly in the day and age of the Internet, there will be a political price to pay. (RELATED: Graham Platner’s Campaign Ends Just as ‘Hamlet’ Does)
Perhaps one of the most famous examples of this was that of the late Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy. Elected to the Senate seat of his older president-brother JFK, Teddy eased into his Senate seat with everyone in the political world assuming that the day would come when an older Teddy would himself be a serious and unbeatable presidential candidate.
And then.
The story is legendary. With a young Teddy allegedly having imbibed a tad too much booze at a party, then getting behind the wheel of his car with a young woman who was not his wife at his side. Thus impaired the young Senator drove off a bridge in rural Chappaquiddick, Massachusetts, drowning his passenger. As he was both a famous sitting Senator, a Kennedy, and a presumed future president, the negative PR was seriously overwhelming. That being the case, even though the incident happened at the very time America was landing the first man on the moon, a serious PR attraction all by itself.
Safe to say, Teddy was never to be elected president as a result. Yes, he lived the rest of his life as a Senator. But that supposedly “sure thing” election to the presidency not only did not materialize, but when he finally made his presidential run it came back to be part of the the lead weight on his candidacy that ensured Kennedy’s defeat.
Certainly, it can be said that Graham Platner’s situation is nowhere near the equal of Kennedy’s. But it most certainly was more than enough to dump a bucket load of bad PR on Platner and send a number of his prominent supporters running away from him as fast as they could go.
Indeed, Politico reported:
GORHAM, Maine — The dam has broken on Graham Platner’s candidacy.
Democratic leaders in Maine and Washington, along with a growing pack of Platner’s close supporters, abandoned his Senate campaign on Monday after POLITICO reported that a woman who dated him said he forced her to have sex with him. Platner called the allegation false.
All of which is to say, there is a lesson out there for any rising star candidate for office. The lesson is quite simple. Not to mention quite old.
Live your life the way you want it to be lived. But if you have given serious thought to running for public office, think carefully before you make an unwanted move on an attractive lady or gentleman you just met. Or even someone you are in a relationship with. If the thought ever crosses your mind that just maybe you should not do X… don’t do X.
This is, in American politics, a very old lesson. And in fact, this is an even older lesson from China’s famous military warrior Sun Tzu.
And now, Graham Platner is getting a refresher course in how Sun Tzu’s lesson works.
Doubtless not fun.
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