The Duchess and The Candidate

Family of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, 2008 US presidential candidate. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Though they're separated by an ocean, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and the Duchess of Cambridge--also known as Kate Middleton--both have something in common:  getting caught in compromising situations in supposedly private environments.

Romney was caught on video making statements that could be lethal to his campaign.  Duchess Kate was sunbathing topless, and the results were seen all over the world.

Romney, for his part, was secretly taped at a gathering in Boca Raton, Florida last spring while speaking to a group of like-minded wealthy individuals who paid maybe thousands of bucks to see him.  There he told his audience some things he normally doesn't share on the campaign trail.  Such as:  dismissing 47% of the potential voters because he thinks President Barack Obama has them in his back pocket already, and because they're not exactly ambitious enough to get off government assistance.  He also said on the tape that the Palestinians aren't really interested in peace with Israel.

Duchess Kate thought it was OK to expose her royal breasts to sunlight while she and her husband, Prince William, were on holiday in the south of France.  Some photographer with a high-powered lens must have been watching this and smelled opportunity.

Romney struck back by owning up to the comments he made on the tape, which was released by Mother Jones magazine.  Then his campaign unearthed a 1998 videotape of then-Illinois state senator Obama calling for a redistribution of the nation's wealth.  Nice way to change the conversation, isn't it?

Kate is now one of the most photographed women in the world.  But this time, not so much.  She and William took the French magazine Closer to court, and got the judge to order them to turn over any digital copies of the Duchess' suntanned nudity.  French officials are also undergoing an investigation to see if there's any criminal wrongdoing.  But it may be too late for the royals.  The photos have already turned up in publications all over Europe, and on the Internet.

What lasting damage the secret videotape will do to Romney's chances of defeating President Obama remains to be seen.  With a few weeks to go, and with the debates still to come, Romney has nowhere to go but up.  Recent polls show the President widening his lead, even on the one issue that Romney was hoping to gain ground on, which would be the economy.

Duchess Kate is a beautiful woman.  Prince William must think so, too.  Otherwise he would not have married her, and we never would have heard of her.  But so was his mother, Princess Diana, and look what happened to her.  That's what William is trying to avoid with Kate in dealing with the paparazzi, as they prepare to take over the British throne one of these days.

Thanks to our digital age, it's no longer possible for celebrities and public figures to go behind closed doors and be themselves.  Now they have to cover up even outdoors, and watch what they say at private functions.  Otherwise, it's on the Internet for all to see.

Sometimes, it's to society's benefit for someone to be exposed for who he really is.  Sometimes, they're just overexposed.