Personal faults bring down two more "great" men

"Only great men have great faults," is a maxim attributed to François de La Rochefoucauld, a 17th century French nobleman, but there's nothing special about faults recently exposed in the lives of two supposedly great men.

First, Rochefoucauld's countryman, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a powerful man as head of the International Monetary fund, and French Socialist Party favorite for president next year, was pulled off an airliner and charged with trapping and sexually assault a hotel maid.

Then, recently-retired California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted fathering a child with a member of his household staff 10 years ago, a situation that led to his wife, Maria Shriver moving out last week.

Schwarzenegger has admitted some but not all of his moral failures over the years, and while Strauss-Kahn is so far fighting the charges and calls for his resignation from the IMF, similar allegations are nothing new.

Both men got where they are through a combination of talent, hard work and good fortune, only to see their stature compromised by the most basic of human flaws.

It's just one more reminder that without personal character, all the education and accomplishment in the world will go for naught.