Despite all the war, political conflicts, economic problems, natural disasters and other major events in our troubled world, there’s unfortunately nothing quite like an international sex scandal to seize public attention.
Probably most of us had never heard of, or certainly had paid little attention to, a 62-year-old Frenchman named Dominique Strauss-Kahn – until this week.
And too few of us may have paid much personal attention to the important workings of the International Monetary Fund before now.
But in France, Monsieur Strauss-Kahn, the head of the IMF and a 62-year-old married father of four, was well known. In fact, he was reported to be the challenger most likely to defeat France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy in elections next year.
But then came disturbing events involving him in New York. Strauss-Kahn checked into a $3,000-a-night suite Friday in the luxury Sofitel hotel near Times Square. Why was he in New York? It wasn’t clear. The IMF is in Washington, and Strauss-Kahn was scheduled to be in Germany two days later, to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel.