WHAT WAS HE THINKING?

I've never liked Kwame Kilpatrick, but it wasn't because of his politics. I didn't like that he was a liar, that he clung to nepotism like birthright by proxy, that in short he abused his power. He could have been great. He had the intelligence and seemed to have the drive. At one point he was such a fast rising political star. He threw it all away ultimately over sex. What was he thinking? Had he just come clean about his affairs to begin with he may have done great things in bringing the city back. Instead he abused the e.p.u. to facilitate his getting some 'strange'. He took good cops like Gary Brown and Harold Nelthrope and killed their careers, lied about them, tried to kill their reputations. What was he thinking? To make matters worse, he covered up each lie with another lie. He arrogantly let the whistle blower case go to trial. He tried to settle only when the text messages were on the line, so again, more cover-up, and that's when things were reaching the point of no return only he couldn't see it. Remember when he was on the witness stand and acted so self-righteous and indignant at the suggestion he'd had an affair with Beatty, and he went on to talk about how he had been such close friends with Beatty's husband, how their kids were all friends, how he'd never do such a thing? How do you let anything get that far and think you'll get out of it?

I think the plea bargain was fair all the way around. Kwame's pastor was on the radio today expressing his 'shock' that Kim Worthy went after jail time. Talk of the man's public humiliation being enough. Spare me. He could have spent years in prison for what he did. Others think he still should. I think with his resignation, his opting for the guilty plea (where he had to state out loud that he lied under oath more than once) over a no-contest plea, his loss of his pension, his having to pay one million dollars restitution, his loss of law license, his five year probation...given all that, I think the 120 days in Wayne County is just about right.

You could almost, almost, but not quite feel sorry for him as you watched this morning. Christine Beatty sat there looking drawn, defeated, like the woman wearing a scarlet letter. Carlita Kilpatrick looked beat up and haggard the way a president will age so quickly from the stress. But Kwame did a heroic job of looking as stoic as he could and seemed to have something left in the tank, even if it was only hubris. He even smiled a time or two, as if whistling by the graveyard of his own hopes and dreams. For all the stoicism and short smiles, occasional laughs and even his one sarcasm in court today, the eyes told a different story. They were haunted. There are stories in there that will never be told. Today he hung it all up; his job, his freedom, his money, and his lies, and watching his eyes you had to wonder, what was he thinking?