The following editorial appeared in the Chicago Tribune on Wednesday, May 7.

Moral crusader Bill Bennett’s gambling days apparently are over. So says he, and perhaps more importantly, so says his wife. In the pantheon of the clay-footed, it will be interesting to see where the former secretary of education and author of “The Book of Virtues” finally is ranked.

Revelations that Bennett may have lost some $8 million in high-stakes gambling over a decade will have an effect on his career, his reputation and his lucrative work as a public speaker. The damage may be lighter than some imagine. After all, American history is littered with public officials/ evangelists/ politicians/ celebrities who proved that no matter what they said (or wrote), they remained exceedingly human.

If Bennett is damaged, it won’t be because he had a weakness for gambling. No, Bennett is far more vulnerable to accusations of hypocrisy.

“The Book of Virtues” was a gentle, even inspirational collection of essays. But Bennett later wrote “The Death of Outrage,” a harangue against America’s tolerance for the indiscretions of Bill Clinton. The nation’s unwillingness to call a cad a cad was, in Bennett’s mind, evidence of “unilateral moral disarmament.”

Depending on where gambling rates on your moral compass, Bennett could be seen as a high-profile phony or just a rich guy who got his kicks by losing piles of money in legal fashion. The irony is that those who are most willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on this probably weren’t disciples of “The Death of Outrage.”

Bennett’s lecturing about right and wrong and his willingness – even glee – at attacking liberal targets has made him a popular speaker. But it may also have painted a huge target on his back.

Bennett maintains that he doesn’t consider gambling a moral issue and he hasn’t put his family “at risk.” He is now, in effect, saying: Let me be the judge of my own behavior.

His critics could take this opportunity to waggle their fingers at a master finger-waggler. He wants to be his own judge now?

But who, then, would become the hypocrite? There’s no evidence Bennett hurt anyone, except probably himself. It’s his money, he can spend it any way he likes.

“I have done too much gambling, and this is not an example I wish to set,” Bennett said in a statement issued Monday. “Therefore, my gambling days are over.” Sounds like Bennett may now have some more time on his hands, perhaps to write “The Book of the Virtues of Tolerance.”


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