Bodybuilder actor and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger earned a reputations as a womaniser.
Herald Sun
MARIA Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger were both in love with the same man. It's common - and dangerous.
It seems that you'd be taking a punt marrying an Austrian.The country itself has often displayed a nasty arrogance, in deep denial of its sins. And its famous menfolk are too often created in that same image: there was Adolf Hitler, of course; and then lying racist Kurt Waldheim, who not only once was president of his country but also Secretary General of the United Nations; and now we have Arnold Schwarzenegger.
His leadership prospects have been terminated, and not before time. The US will look back soon and wonder how close it came to having the deceitful narcissist muscle in on its national stage.
We might have had a US election fought between the son of a Nazi soldier and the son of an untrustworthy, accident-prone Kenyan drunk.
It didn't happen, and recently we were reminded why not.
That fuss last month over whether Barack Obama had really been born on American territory raised the issue of Article II of the American constitution. It states that "No person except a natural born Citizen of the United States ... shall be eligible to the Office of President".
Obama turned up last month with his birth certificate - as he has before - and proved his American status.
But idiotic and hysterical as conservative American voices so often are, Article II may have saved them from a fate worse than the black man many of them so clearly dread.
It wasn't that long ago that the deluded voters of California so loved their Governor - a womanising, bodybuilding actor, perfect qualifications for West Coast leadership - that 65 per cent of them supported him, and a number of influential Americans were calling for the US Constitution to be hurriedly changed so that Arnie might make a run for the White House.
One of them was his poor wife Maria Shriver. Part of the Kennedy dynasty, she might have known politics, but she didn't know her man. When some Silicon Valley bigwigs started spending money on the campaign to have her husband for President, Shriver agreed. "Absolutely" there should be an amendment to clear the way for Schwarzenegger to run.
Syndicated radio host Alex Jones, once a Republican, saw things differently: "He's a bully and a preening peacock who is totally power-mad," he said. "For God's sake, don't let this megalomaniac become president."
Jones was right. Shriver was wrong. And what a price she has paid - her children growing up in a house alongside their housemaid's son, also Arnie's offspring.
By now Shriver must know the absurdly ambitious Schwarzenegger has cunningly manipulated her, probably since they first met in 1977, their relationship starting, of course, when he was deeply involved with another.
That he has involved their four children in a dreadful pantomime that will scar their lives would hardly worry the man who is a better actor than anyone could have believed. It didn't start off being about politics, but like so many knuckle-grazing alpha males, it was about power. Mostly over women.
The actor now finds himself in league with the actors of other professions; men who want to be taken very seriously for their professional achievements, but whose self-obsessed lives are ruled by the need to conquer women and humiliate them.
Disgraced AFL star Wayne Carey is one. How about Tiger Woods? Maybe disgraced former David Jones boss Mark McInnes had just started training.
They're everywhere. And spectacularly joining their ranks last week was International Monetary Fund boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn, although he stands accused of having elevated his serial interest in women to criminal activity.
An underpaid West African maid at Strauss-Kahn's hotel in Manhattan says he groped and mauled her before trying to rape her. He has been charged with offences that could see him jailed for 74 years. His wife, prominent French TV journalist Anne Sinclair, is standing by her man.
Many worthy women stand by their untrustworthy and repugnant partners, at least initially, some staying the distance because of the strategic value.
Like Hillary Clinton.
Others, like Sally Carey, and Tiger Woods's missus Elin Nordegren, eventually come to their senses.
Their men like the idea of a breeding bimbo at home and whatever they like on the road.
Of course, they are contemptuous of both.
Seems Strauss-Kahn's chances of becoming French president next year have taken a hit. His wife may have been quite looking forward to taking up residency in the Elysee Palace.
Now, other women are coming out to say Strauss-Kahn attacked them.
Though Strauss-Kahn may be innocent - and insists he is - commonly, these men are following the patterns of a lifetime.
Not long ago an AFL footballer was charged with a serious sexual crime. While he protests his innocence, his reported attitude when questioned by the club's football manager might sum up the problems for both men.
"I can get whatever chicks I want. I don't have to rape anyone," he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment