As the details of CIA director David Petraeus’ affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell have slowly unfolded since the retired four-star general announced his resignation last week, it appears to be turning into a bad made-for-TV-drama about a jealous lover with just a touch of “what did she know and when did she know it?” espionage.
How could a man heading an organization with “intelligence” in its name not show much of his own?
It’s easy to categorize the 60-year-old married father of two adult children as one of the country’s greatest heroes, an ego-driven power-hungry politician, or a “typical man.” 
It’s easy to categorize Petraeus’ wife of 38 years, Holly, as an overweight plain-looking 60-year-old woman who probably isn’t too interested in sex anymore (she’s post-menopausal, after all), a devoted Army wife who moved 23 times in 36 years to better her husband’s career and whom Petaeus himself considers “the greatest source of support, wise counsel, and love that any soldier could have,” or a wife who’s too involved with her career as the assistant director of service-member affairs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to remember to put her husband front and center.
And it’s just as easy to categorize the 40-year-old Broadwell, author of a glowing hagiography of Petraeus, “All In: The Education of General David Petraeus,” as a military groupie who was too ambitious in her attempts to join Washington’s national security elite and saw Petraeus as her way in, a jealous, adulterous temptress who would stop at nothing to remove any woman who would get in between her and her lover (but obviously not his wife), or a devoted mom of two young boys and wife who made a mistake by falling in love with her mentor.
Then again, perhaps all of the above is true.
There’s no way to know if their affair would have been discovered if Broadwell hadn’t sent threatening emails to 37-year-old Jill Kelley, a social liaison to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., and a longtime friend of the Petraeus family, prompting an FBI investigation. While some blame Broadwell for getting “her claws” into Petraeus, it’s clear that their close relationship was obvious to make enough people nervous, including Petraeus’ aides.
Still, Petraeus isn’t the first high-ranking man to get caught with his pants down by an adoring woman, and Broadwell clearly has an ego and drive to match Petraeus’. All it took was a “You are so hot” come-on for then-presidential candidate John Edwards to begin an affair with Rielle Hunter and hire the life coach to be his campaign videographer.
We all know how that turned out.
There’s no end of women attracted to men with power, and men with egos that need to be stroked. With so much to lose, however, why do it?
There’s nothing in Petraeus’ past that indicates he’s cheated before. But, perhaps he was more apt to succumb to an affair in recent years because of his prostate cancer, which was treated “successfully” with radiation in 2009. Impotence is a common effect of prostrate cancer treatments, leading many men to feel particularly vulnerable. For someone with the ego, drive and ambition that Petraeus is known for — and which undoubtedly have made him such a respected leader — that would likely be a huge blow to his sense of masculinity.
There’s nothing like an affair with an attractive younger woman to prove that you’re “still a man,” and their affair began two months after he was named as CIA director — two years after his treatment, about when some men regain their sex life.
In a way, he’s lucky his infidelity was discovered now and not when he was still in the military, where his affair might have led to a court-martial, even though infidelity seems to be fairly common among our military service members.
We’re not done hearing about Petraeus or Broadwell, especially with the upcoming Senate inquiry into the killing of four Americans at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. In the meantime, there are two families in pain and struggling with big questions, many of which will be impossible to answer.
With so much to lose, why do high-profile people — mostly men — cheat?
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Hello ?
We are above all animals….sexual animals. It would have been remarkable if the
General had not had a relationship with the ” in heat ” Ms Bradwell. The first thing a man
and a woman do is appraise each other as a sexual partner. Petraeus’s wife’s photo tells
the tale…….the general needed to get laid. Ms Bradwell needed the alpha male.
Corporal Hudson in ” Aiens ” could have boil it down to its essence, ” Let me bring you up on current events ” . ” The General needed to get laid, the leggy Ms Bradwell needed
to get laid and get on in the world ” No mystery here…..
on current events “
Twitter: OMGchronicles
says:
“Petraeus’s wife’s photo tells the tale…….the general needed to get laid.” Hmm, you are making quite an assumption. It’s true that Holly isn’t “hot” or as attractive as Paula, but that doesn’t mean she and the general aren’t getting it on!
For someone with the ego, drive and ambition that Petraeus is known for — and which undoubtedly have made him such a respected leader — that would likely be a huge blow to his sense of masculinity.
(oh please…he didnt need the respect or anything else from anyone.he already had it.he sure didnt need it from his wife,she stuck by his side through cancer.this is just a made up excuse of why he could have had the affair,just like all the other assumptions in this and the other articles i read.there is no excuse,none.he wanted a piece of ass,its as simple as that.it also has nothing to do with the way his wife is,her looks or anything.i mean he married her,he know what she looked like ect.so nothing and no reason why you or anyone else who writes why he would have had an affair is silly and a waste of time(unless people who write these articles are getting paid,then i can see why made up silly reasons ect are being wrote).because it all boils down to David Petraeus is a pig who wanted a piece of ass other then his wife and Paula Broadwell is a slut who knew he was married,she wanted money or something.no woman is gonna mess with an older man unless he has something to offer.)
There’s nothing like an affair with an attractive younger woman to prove that you’re “still a man,”
(anyone who thinks this way has low self esteem and is not a man,but a boy,a boy who has to sleep with a girl because he cant handle a real woman or satisfy one his own age.
if he has power and money,then again the young woman only wants him because of that,and only that.he is old.she has no other use for him.it makes men look pitiful if you ask me.stupid bastards lol)
I can’t help but feel deep sympathy for Holly.