So, the governor of my state, New York, has gotten into some trouble for — at the least — purchasing the services of a $1000-an-hour prostitute. Governor Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, and formerly a merciless prosecutor and state attorney general, now faces possible criminal charges. His political survival appears completely impossible, due not only to his transgressions, but also due to his lacking much in the way of dedicated political allies at this point. It’s a curious state of affairs.

From my point of view, his election to the governorship of New York was distinctly odd in itself. I don’t recall any particular competition. It seemed that nearly two years in advance of the election in which he was expected to run, a broad message was somehow communicated to all and sundry that he would be the next governor of New York. (The three-term incumbent, George Pataki, a Republican, was expected not to run, thereby creating an “open” contest.) The sense of inevitability regarding Eliot Spitzer’s ascension was reflected and magnified by the kinds of campaign ads he ultimately ran. There are all kinds of ironies to be found in watching them today. Take this one (click here for YouTube or play below), a 30 second ad called “Responsibility,” with references to “Trustworthy Turnpike,” “Honesty Road,” and “Integrity Lane.”

Now, I pay reasonably close attention to politics — although, in local terms, more to city than to state — but in the course of the campaign I’ll be darned if I picked up much of anything on the specifics of what Eliot Spitzer would do once elected governor. All I kept picking up was that he would be governor, and that then things were going to be just great. The ads seemed to be saying that this guy is so good that we can’t even begin to tell you how good he is; so, we won’t waste much time trying. Likewise, the ads told us that once he was governor, he was going to make everything fantastic and new again, on such a huge scale that to worry about specifics would be silly. He was going to bring back the good old days, while simultaneously leading us into a bright progressive future.

Take a look at this other 30 second ad, about the “New York that was” (click here to go to YouTube or play below).

Note how the voice says, “If you don’t remember that New York, don’t worry; He does.” I capitalize He, because that’s exactly how it sounds to me in the ad. Spitzer was truly being deified.

He was elected with 69% of the vote. We may as well have saved some money and just had a voice-vote, in fact. The “yays” would have been deafening. Nobody even remembers who the Republicans ran against him. (I do, and I voted for him, but I’m not saying.)

A campaign that was not fought over specifics — in a real sense, a campaign that wasn’t fought at all — made it hard to tell what Spitzer’s specific mandate was. It seemed he just had an overwhelming mandate to do whatever the heck he wanted to do. And it soon emerged that that’s exactly what he thought, too. However, he immediately ran into some powerful politicians in the state capital who didn’t take kindly to being run over by a “steamroller” (Eliot’s self-characterization) and who weren’t going anywhere anytime soon. A really nasty side of Spitzer’s personality simultaneously came out — one which the campaign ads had neglected to inform the public about, but one which had surely been there throughout his public life — and before long the first big scandal of his governorship arose, involving allegations of abuse of power, lies and cover-ups, and the use of state police to in effect spy on a Republican rival in state government. That whole thing is still facing pending proceedings. His poll ratings fell through the floor. The question had abruptly changed from whether he could accomplish anything he wanted, to whether he could accomplish anything at all.

You would think a chastened Spitzer would have realized he was not the untouchable perpetual winner that he had heretofore considered himself to be, but, judging by what’s emerging now about how he conducted himself in other areas, it seems not.

This story is a parable of some kind, but maybe it’s hard right now to sum it up. One thing is sure — if not so surprising — and that is that voters can be misled, on a massive scale. Elections can sometimes be won based only on factors such as good timing and slick campaign ads. Substance, and character, can be optional accessories. Beware a candidate who effectively says, “Just trust me; I’ll take care of everything.” It’s a parable about arrogance too, of-course. To behave in this way while governor of one of the largest states in the country is the mind-boggling thing. Yet, clearly he didn’t wake up one day and say, “I’m the governor; I’m going to go see a prostitute.” It’s something he has to have been doing for many years, and having gotten away with it for so long, he somehow didn’t think he would be discovered despite his enormously high profile. And clearly this man — who I heard described by many pundits over and over again yesterday as being “incredibly smart” — didn’t worry about putting himself in a position where he could be blackmailed by, for example, some organized crime figures. It’s a parable about self-delusion, too. Yet, Spitzer’s arrogance and self-delusion carried him pretty far, all in all: to the governor’s mansion. He’s going to need something else to carry him away from there.

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