Our inquisition of presidential candidates isn't much better for anyone else. Liddy Dole had to suffer the embarrassment of not raising enough money to keep her unannounced bid at the presidency afloat. I'm not sure which is worse--that or the fact that her own husband didn't even support her. The media chastised Dan Quayle for his inability to spell the word "potato." But then again, we've all become a little "Spell Check"-dependent. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has been criticized for his fiery temper. Gary "Family Values" Bauer has come under suspicion for spending time in an office alone with a young female aide. Pat Buchanan has never stopped being controversial. Many candidates have shared their religious beliefs as part of their campaigns; a friend of mine with presidential aspirations jokingly wonders when she is going to have to experience a Baptist revival just to win the White House.

Perhaps President Clinton deserves some of the blame. After all, his administration did all that it could to meld a president's personal life with his duties in office. The President's adultery and lying introduced Americans to a sordid life behind a Presidential faade, and now we can't stop prying for similar excitement.

Before Americans were content to watch the President in his fishbowl, open for public view. Now the President is shoved under an X-ray machine and thrown onto a psychiatrist's couch, bringing his most personal details ("Boxers or briefs, Mr. Clinton?") under scrutiny. Maybe to run for President, you have to be an exibitionist. Or at least you have to be nuts.

Jordana R. Lewis '02, a Crimson editor, is a history and literature concentrator in Eliot House. She has no plans to run for public office. At this time.