TIMSON: Petraeus created this mess

Here we go again. Powerful man blows up his sterling career when news surfaces of his extramarital dalliance.

With John Edwards, pretty-boy presidential candidate, it was a slightly dippy “documentary” maker who pursued him, whispering, “you are so hot.” With Dominique Strauss Kahn, former head of the International Monetary Fund, it was apparently anything that moved. And now here comes David Pe- traeus, 60, four-star general and, until very recently, director of the CIA to join this stable of studly miscreants.

His sad story involves not one but two women other than his wife: his married biographer, Paula Broadwell, 40, who had an affair with him, and who apparently sent harassing emails to another married woman, Jill Kelley, 37, a “friend” of the family, warning her to stay away from Petraeus.

When the FBI began investigating Broadwell’s threatening emails, Petraeus admitted to an affair with her. President Obama accepted his resignation, as he should have. Not only is there a lack of honour here, there is also the possibility of a security breach. If nothing else, Petraeus showed poor judgment.

You could argue that America is too puritanical, and public officials are entitled to private lives. When is America going to get over the fact that people have sex with partners other than their spouses? But there is always a new twist. As more than several tweets observed, if you’re head of the CIA and can’t hide an extramarital affair, it means it can’t be done. While not all details of this story have surfaced, it’s clear that Petraeus is embroiled in a mess of his own choosing. He apparently began the affair with Broadwell only a few months after he became CIA director. I’d fire him for stupidity if nothing else. There is the suggestion that Broadwell, author of All In: The Education of General David Petraeus, in which the only controversy, according to comedian Jon Stewart, was whether the author considered her subject “awesome or incredibly awesome,” recently gave away classified information about the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. I watched a tape of Broadwell promoting her book on The Daily Show, and she seemed a tad eager, dressed in a ruffled halter top that exposed every jut of her shoulder bones, to prove how alluring she is. Amazingly fit, she detailed how she went running with the general because that’s how he got to know younger people. Sigh. Wouldn’t it be nice if just once there wasn’t a sleazy undertone to an older man/ younger woman mentoring tale? Someone asked me whether powerful older men were especially vulnerable to — how can I put this — posses of gorgeous, ambitious younger women demanding sex from them. That is a decidedly old-fashioned view. Ambitious, attractive women are here to stay in the workplace and most interact in a non-sexual way with older mentors.

I once interviewed the wife of a powerful man who told me it was not “pleasant” to watch younger women throw themselves at her husband.

But isn’t that where the words, “I can’t, I’m married” come in? Or do we assume that all men can never say no?

As for Holly Petraeus, “furious would be an understatement,” a former Petraeus spokesman said on Good Morning America.

Like many a wronged spouse, she will enjoy a surge of approval as her husband’s reputation twists in the wind.

You would think a four-star general might be a little more adept at risk management. Judith Timson writes weekly about cultural, social and political issues. Email her at judith.timson@sympatico.ca and follow her on Twitter @judithtimson