When pulling your Weiner will be okay

Our national media obsession of all things Weiner and wieners ended – at least we hope ended – today as U.S. Congressman Anthony Weiner (D. New York) resigned his elected position. The once-promising high flyer for the Democratic party, and a very likely future mayor of New York City at that, came crashing down to Earth in a humiliating scandal derived from risqué pictures sent via Twitter.

Now, have you seen the picture that caused all the hubbub? Really, a little chub, a bit of wood in a pair of jockeys, caused all that?

In the first place, what’s the big deal, anyway? This is the day and age of ubiquitous social media platforms and connected hardware devices, of information overload and whatever the hell “sexting” is. If you haven’t sent an inappropriate picture of yourself over the internet, you're just not trying - it’s just a matter of when, not if.

It’s always something pushing the boundaries in politics. What’s one’s cross to bear and a career ender in one decade becomes a non-issue in the next. Remember the idea of Ronald Reagan becoming president, and the scandalous thought that he had once been … divorced!

Bill Clinton famously – and barely - escaped the drug use fervor created by his “never inhaled” stance. Eight years later, the United States voted in the silver-spooned cocaine cowboy, George W. Bush and his DUI conviction past. Who the hell knows what Obama has done. We don’t know, simply because we don’t care enough to ask. Drug usage is so … last generation.

Of course, nothing changes the fact that Weiner is out on his, uh, butt, and things aren’t looking good for the career public servant. He hasn’t ever had a real job, and he has no business or law degree. What’s next for him, other than his recent job offer from Hustler’s Larry Flynt? American politics have given some pretty outrageous second and third chances before.

Well, hello Marion Barry, how long have you been standing there?

We’re won’t have Weiner to kick around once all this fades into history sometime in the next 42 minutes. Oh, there will be the hard-to-resist Weiner jokes, “pulling the Weiner,” so to speak. The lasting legacy will be a redefinition of what’s appropriate or inappropriate to tweet, post, etc. The bar has been raised – or lowered, depending on how one looks at it. Everyone is going to have a picture, you just wait and see.

A couple of more martinis, and I just might tweet out mine tonight.
Look for my photos on Twitter @RayHartjen