Another Craig Flip Flop, McGreevy Weighs In

MSNBC's tag line this morning about Sen. Larry Craig is "Is he or isn't he?"

They aren't referring to his sexuality, rather his most recent flip flop, this time it's his announced resignation from the senate. He's reconsidering.

I'm glad I don't live in Idaho. This gives new meaning to the idea of poor leadership skills. I mean, do you really want a senator who can't make a decision and stick by it. Gonna resign...not gonna resign. Plead guilty...reverse the plea... Give the signals...deny giving the signals. Gay for play...not gay, never been gay.

But one thing is certain. Fighting the guilty plea and reversing his decision to resign from the senate keeps the story in the headlines, possible for weeks...at least until the end of the month...his resignation date. And that can do nothing but help the democrats. They don't have to do a thing (something the democrats often do and which sometimes shows them at their best...or their worst). Just sit back and watch a man who is in a hole grab a shovel and continue digging.

Jim McGreevy, the former New Jersey governor, who is hardly the poster boy for gay personal integrity, but whose story is valuable in exposing the dangers of being "forced" (by society and one's own insecurities) into the closet, had this to say in the Birmingham News (really the Washington Post) today Here .

McGreevy's points are well taken. When the church rejects you, when society rejects you, when medical literature rejects you (as it did back then), and when your peers reject you, you lead two separate lives: your open daily life and your closeted life which you indulge only in dark secret places. He says you do this by splitting in two, rescuing part of your self and walking away from the other part. Yet the other part doesn't cease to exist.

McGreevy understands where Larry Craig is right now. There is no doubt Craig's political career is over, but he will forever have the conflict that McGreevy describes if he does not come to terms with his sexuality. This conflict is manifesting itself in the poor decision making he has exhibited over the past two months.

Like McGreevy, I hope that America continues to move toward recognizing the "worth and dignity of every individual", and that ours is the "last generation that is required to choose between affairs of the heart and elected office." Or any other career, I might add.