CALIFORNIA – Hayden Kho Jr. may have considered jumping off a bridge for the anguish his caper has caused the women in his videos. But he shouldn’t really for he is in pretty good company. He should look at the playbook of American politicians who, having caught with their pants down, have managed to zip themselves up and carry on with their lives, even careers.

Forget John F. Kennedy whose itch was stuff of legend, or Bill Clinton who used linguistic dexterity to charm his way out of impeachment, or even our Ferdinand Marcos, whose proclivities were also stuff of legend. Just over the past couple of weeks, we’ve had two leading American politicians, presidential wannabes both, who’ve copped to screwing behind their wives’ back.

The first was John Ensign, a Republican representing Nevada in the US Senate, followed by Mark Sanford, the governor, also a Republican, of South Carolina, who, having made folks around him believe he was trekking through the Appalachians, was in fact in Buenos Aires tracing the tan lines of a mother not of his children.

It may also be worth noting that also during the administration of George W. Bush, another US senator, Larry Craig, also a Republican of Nevada, was caught soliciting an undercover cop in the crapper of the Las Vegas international airport, while his distinguished colleague from Louisiana, Robert Vitter, also a Republican, was found to be on the list of a prominent DC madam. Also caught spending thousands of dollars a night for sexual favors was the erstwhile New York Governor Elliot Spitzer.

To Filipinos who pride themselves in being the only Christian nation in Asia, it may be worth noting that these scalawags, with the exception of Spitzer, are Republicans, who ever since I became eligible to vote as an American citizen, have run on a platform of, among other conservative Christian doctrines, defending family values by denouncing homosexuality as threat to matrimony. But for Hayden himself, he may find it particularly interesting that, save for Craig and Spitzer who quit their posts in shame, these other guys have shamelessly – and successfully – clung to their political seats.

Yes, my dear Hayden, you can loosen the noose around your neck. There is this thing called redemption.

Not just for Hayden, actually, but also the other characters in this drama, particularly Katrina Halili and Maricar Reyes, and the other women and men all over the world, who have been chicaned by their purported lovers into embarrassingly compromising situations. As my favorite Mao Tse Tung quote goes: “Turn a bad thing into a good thing.”

I cannot, if I ever could, come up to either of these girls and tell them I know how they feel. That’s simply because, having gotten into some pretty moronic stuff myself, I cannot remember any instance that would even come close to what they have experienced. Sympathy yes; empathy never. But I could offer some perspective, unsolicited it may be.

It wouldn’t hurt to hire an image-spinner.

Remember Monica Lewinsky, who made Bill Clinton her tootsie roll in the Oval Office? Monica didn’t vanish into the ether. She would design bags and later hie off to the UK, where she would get a degree from the London School of Economics. Still considered a minor celebrity, she has been spotted, none the worse for wear, at dinners in the company of fine folks.

Going even further back in America’s prurient political history, there was on the front page of a tabloid the toothsome Donna Rice in a bikini, sitting on the lap of one Gary Hart, who perchance at that time was gearing up for a run for the White House. Hart’s career went into a tailspin, but Donna would marry a fella named Hughes and now as Donna Rice Hughes, has become the Internet’s preeminent anti-child pornography crusader.

And as I write this, it does seem that Maricar has dusted herself up and begun to pick up the pieces. Many would not quite agree with the option she has taken, which is to join show biz. Already she is getting quite a bit of flack. Some are calling it chutzpah, as in “kapal naman.” I’d call it courage. Go for it, girl.

When I was young and would never have anything green on my dinner plate, my father would urge me, eat the ampalaya because the water will be sweeter. A metaphor for our times, indeed.

The author is the editor of Asian Dragon Magazine. E-mail litogutierrez@yahoo.com.