Spitzer 'Flaw' More Farce than Tragedy

Ruth Marcus wrote a odd piece in the WashPo today, hilariously mistaking Spitzer's downfall for a Greek tragedy. "The brave hero brought low by his own arrogance" she begins. First let's be clear -- Eliot Spitzer was never a brave hero. He was a clever opportunist who assumed a mantle of virtue because it proved to be a catchy look on the political catwalk.

The opportunist behind the mantle was obvious to everyone who paid critical attention to his performance in the last decade. His repeat offense on campaign finance laws -- laundering money from his dad to make it look like his own -- might qualify as one red flag. Make that two red flags, as he did it twice. His persistent grandstanding around flimsy cases against corporate heavyweights was also typically transparent.
Spitzer's implosion has tragic elements - the fact that he has a wife and three daughters whose lives will be inevitably upended by this is tragic. That his hypocrisy undermines some of the truly worthy causes he had opportunistically engaged, such as trafficking in women and sex tourism, is likely to have tragic consequences.

But that doesn't mean that Spitzer himself has a "tragic flaw." Tragic flaws are often tragic characteristics or even virtues that circumstance turns into flaws. Hamlet's indecisiveness is a classic. Lear's egotism. Othello's jealousy. Pride is a common one. Even compassion and brotherly loyalty - as in the case of Hector's readiness to rescue his frivolous brother precipitating Troy's destruction - can be virtues made flaws of tragic proportion.

But nowhere does getting busy with dozens of prostitutes at a cost of $80,000 over several years while posing as a paragon of public virtue tie into the whole "tragic flaw" thing. That's more about the tawdry excess of man drunk on his own power. Mix in the irony of our protagonist having gloatingly brought down prostitution rings in years past and you have the makings of an exceptionally entertaining comedy. A posturing, bullying, grandstanding public figure brought down by the same sleazy man stuff he had built his reputation fighting.