Source: Flick_wikimedia_Howard_Dean_declaration_of_candidacy_June_2003_By John Hoke
Politics is a tricky game of victory and loss. No one can boast about being invincible or a master of this field because of how unsure the outcomes can be. Someone expecting a win in the area they are well known in, can easily be defeated if some other candidate wins their trust instead. It is extremely unpredictable and hence, many people tend to stay out of it.
But we need someone to take care of our countries, no? So, people do step up to take on the reins of the government and compete in this game of charades. Many leave an unforgettable mark as good and wise politicians while many others are forced to make their exit from the game because of certain political or personal reasons.
The Dean Scream
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Howard_Dean_declaration_of_candidacy_June_2003.jpg
On January 19, 2004, Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean was giving his speech when he made a sound which, according to many people, marked the end of his politics career. This sound came to be known as the ‘Dean Scream’ and was a reveling moment in 21st century politics.
Dean was the frontrunner in the race because of his open criticism of the Iraq War and emerged on top despite the attempts of the conservatives to showcase his campaign as a “left-wing freak show”. But the results were different. He placed third after John Edwards and John Kerry in Iowa Caucuses. He wasn’t discouraged though and enthusiastically took the stage the same night to conclude this speech with a shout of “…and then we’re going to Washington, D.C., to take back the White House! Yeah!”
This “Yeah” in the last sounded bizarre as Dean’s voice cracked in the end. This was broadcast again and again before people on news programs all over the country. People in the room didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary but this mishap was highlighted on television repeatedly. The extent of this underperformance can’t be determined properly but the initial momentum Dean’s campaign had was never restored and he lost the generals after this too.
Double Exit
Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/european_parliament/4583780057
Just recently, US president Joe Biden gave up on competing in the 2024 presidential race. This happened after he had competed for his victory and even participated in the debate against other candidates. Such an unprecedented move has been seen for the first time- no other US presidential candidate left the race so close to the election date.
Experts resonate that this probably happened because of the pressure on Biden from other party leaders, donors, and lawmakers decreased his support circle considerably and ultimately pushed him to withdraw from the race.
But many people might not know that this wasn’t the first time he had to step back. Biden also competed in the 1988 elections but had to end his election campaigning after just three months. Biden was seen as a new hope and a Democrat different from other politicians at the time. He was known especially for his powerful and inspiring speeches but this turned out to be a liability for him.
A few days before the Bork hearings, a video surfaced which had footage of Biden clearly quoting U.K. Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock without giving him any credit. This paved the way for more of such speeches which formed a Plagiarism Scandal and the final nail hit the campaign’s coffin when it was found that he had lied about graduating as one of the top students in his law school- he had ranked 76th out of some 85 students.
Bribery and Politics
Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pmdbnacional/17313220642
Eduardo Cunha from Brazil, speaker of the lower house of Congress, was accused of taking millions of dollars as a bribe for securing contracts with Petrobas, the state oil giant. This was the ‘Operation Car Wash’ scandal.
Prosecutors in Brazil had accused of Cunha and his allies of taking 40 million dollars from a government-controlled oil company, Petrobas. But Cunha wasn’t one to back down easily. As he got swept further into this web of accusations, he started shifting the focus on the ruling party’s scandals.
One of his statements was, “Resigning is not part of my vocabulary”. He tried proving his innocence by arguing that he was being singled out by the prosecution. But luck wasn’t on his side and he was soon sentenced to more than 15 years in prison. The judge in Brazil found him guilty of crimes like corruption and illegal money laundering between 2011 and 2014.
The ‘Partygate’ scandal
Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/49692025857
Boris Johnson, former prime minister of the United Kingdom and his then chancellor, Rishi Sunak were both questioned by MPs when investigations found that certain rules had been broken during the Covid pandemic by their government. A photograph from May 2020 showed the prime minister sitting with his staff while snacking on cheese with wine. This is the same year when people were dying because of the virus.
Later in May, there were more incidents like this when Johnson invited people over to drinks and dinner to his garden and held several gatherings until April 2021. The former PM did argue that rules were being followed and it was mostly related to work but it still doesn’t help the fact that the PM’s group was ‘partying’ while the country was suffering.
As the Metropolitan Police and senior civil servant Susan Gray investigated more and submitted a report for this case, an overwhelming majority was against Johnson as he had committed five contempts of parliament. 354 people voted against the report while 7 people voted in support. Sunak was absent while this went down and Johnson resigned as an MP.
No driving license
Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chathamhouse/5981053986/
The former cabinet minister, Chris Huhne and his ex-wife, Vicky Pryce were both jailed for eight months because of a political scandal that also cost Huhne his political career. And surprisingly, this wasn’t anything as big as you would imagine.
In 2003, Huhne had asked his then-wife Pryce to take his speeding points so that he doesn’t lose his license. Pryce had agreed to do so which she admitted to later on when this scandal came out.
People got to know about this when Pryce went to report about this story to a newspaper after her and Huhne had broken up. The judge had commented that Huhne had “fallen from a great height but any tragedy was their own fault.” They also added that Huhne would have been sentenced to nine months of prison had he not pleaded guilty for this crime. After this, Huhne and Pryce both were sent to prison for eight months and the former resigned from the cabinet and as the Liberal Democrat MP in Hampshire. They were both released in May 2013 after serving just two months of their eight-month sentences.
This was a politician whose career went haywire because of a driving license.
Resources
- Sullivan, M. (2021, September 24). The Howard Dean scream. HISTORY. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-dean-scream
- Waxman, O. B. (2019, August 2). Why Joe Biden’s First Campaign for President Collapsed After Just 3 Months. TIME; nextgen. https://time.com/5636715/biden-1988-presidential-campaign/
- Herb, J., Lee, M., Zeleny, J., Mattingly, P., Saenz, A., & Alvarez, P. (2024, July 21). Inside Biden’s unprecedented exit from the presidential race. CNN; CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/21/politics/inside-bidens-exit-from-2024-race/index.html
- News, B. (2015, August 20). Brazil Speaker Eduardo Cunha facing corruption charges. BBC News; BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-34012980
- News, B. (2022, January 11). Partygate: A timeline of the lockdown parties. Bbc.com; BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-59952395
- News, B. (2013, March 11). Chris Huhne and Vicky Pryce jailed for eight months. BBC News; BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-21737627
- Allegretti, A. (2023, June 19). Tories round on Boris Johnson as MPs vote to approve Partygate report. The Guardian; The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jun/19/boris-johnson-faces-loss-of-westminster-pass-as-mps-back-partygate-report
- Eduardo Cunha, Who Led Impeachment Drive Against Rival in Brazil, Gets a 15-Year Jail Term (Published 2017). (2024). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/30/world/americas/eduardo-cunha-brazil-sentenced-prison.html
- Expanding Web of Scandal in Brazil Threatens Further Upheaval (Published 2015). (2024). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/22/world/americas/expanding-web-of-scandal-in-brazil-threatens-further-upheaval.html
