Harrigan, that's him!

It seems as though the White House’s elite corps of stenographers is annoyed.  The reason for this annoyance is, as you may have guessed already, the former junior senator from Illinois’ tour of the Florida links with Tiger Woods.  Maybe it’s just me, (it probably is) but I find the contrast between the two men fascinating.  Tiger Woods took his relationship with his wife for granted, believing that since he was the world’s greatest golfer, he could as he pleased and like George M. Cohan’s Harrigan, divvil a man would say a word agin him.  This belief, of course, did not factor in the possibility that Mrs. Woods might have a mind of her own and have something to say about Mr. Woods’ chronic priapism. She promptly took Mr. Woods for half of the considerable everything he owned plus the kids, and I imagine that the now chastened and considerably poorer Mr. Woods will think twice before he steps out with one of his beach blanket bimbos again.

By contrast, the former junior senator from Illinois treats the steno pool like his personal bitch and does so in the full knowledge that, unlike Mrs. Woods, they may complain but they will never leave him.  Leaving him would call the pool’s collective intelligence and there’s no way they will allow that to happen; it would give the flyover people ideas above their station.  So the pool is in a dilemma familiar to any highly educated woman trapped in a bad marriage: they have to make the best of a bad job or let everyone know what a pitiful co-dependent she is, and who would take her seriously after that?  So the pool goes on, its head held high while the Illinois Incitatus ignores them completely, and he content in the knowledge that no matter how badly he treats them, they will stick with him no matter what.