The Wacky World of Wu

Congressman David Wu (D-Oregon)

Oddball Oregon Congressman David Wu, despite having successfully sidestepped several political pratfalls during his first six terms in the House, is apparently not very convincing in his apologies.

Editorial boards at community newspapers across the state's First Congressional District called for Wu's resignation this week after the Congressman confessed to mostly unspecified regrets over "inappropriate" and "unprofessional" "things" he "said" and "did" during his most recent campaign on Good Morning America Tuesday.

Wu didn't exactly apologize for anything. It was more like hearing excuses. Good excuses. But excuses nonetheless. Campaigns are stressful. Divorce is no picnic. Single parenthood ain't no walk in the park. And caring for one elderly parent while coping with the loss of the other is emotionally draining as well.

During the six-minute interview with George Stephanopoulos, Wu denied that his former staffers had staged what they described as an "intervention" to get him a bed in a psychiatric hospital near the end of the campaign. He did admit to deciding against committing himself to an inpatient mental health program during the campaign because of his family obligations. Since then, however, the Congressman said he has sought psychiatric help, both "counseling" and "medication."

Those revelations were damning, according to The Register-Guard newspaper in Oregon, not because he sought mental health treatment, but because he concealed his problems from the voters:

"It’s easy to understand why Wu and his staff wanted to keep questions about his condition quiet until after the election....Yet at the same time, the congressman’s silence, and that of his staff members, led voters to make their decision without knowing important facts about the leading candidate....Candor might have been costly...Whatever the price of candor, the price of its absence is higher. Wu can recover his health, but public trust is lost forever. He should step down."

Similarly, The Beaverton Valley Times called on Wu to take a leave of absence to focus on his mental health issues, House rules permitting, or resign altogether:

"This week, Wu has emphatically said he is fully capable of representing Oregon’s 1st Congressional District. We don’t agree. Wu’s recent behavior is no longer about odd, eccentric or embarrassing outbursts or actions. It’s about trust. It’s a call for Wu to restore his own mental health and personal well-being. It’s about what Oregon needs from a member of Congress.

We believe that until Wu is able to fully prove his mental health, control his erratic behavior and restore the public’s trust, he should take a leave of absence from Congress."

The Daily Astorian stopped short of calling for his resignation, opting instead only to predict it by comparing Wu to former Oregon Senator Bob Packwood who was forced to resign in 1995 after The Washington Post revealed allegations of sexual harassment against him.

"It would be the better part of smartness for Wu to resign, but political decisions are more often emotional than rational. While The Oregonian has been itching for Wu’s scalp for several terms, an editorial page from this vantage point has to acknowledge that the congressman has served Clatsop County well. Certainly Wu is becoming an embarrassment. So was Packwood. We know how this ends."

Wu in a family snapshot a few days before Halloween, just before his re-election last year. Wu sent this photo and other "bizarre" emails to staffers who became concerned about his mental health and attempted to have him hospitalized.

In political circles,Wu has long been known to be "socially awkward," a condition that has consistently put him in hot water. But according to Jeff Mapes, senior political reporter for The Portland Oregonian, he's always been able to "talk his way out of it." Mapes expounded on how Wu had survived a number of gaffes, political missteps and revelations of bizarre, inappropriate and even criminal behavior during a discussion with Oregon Public Broadcasting's Political Analyst Bill Lunch on Friday. Lunch noted that because Wu won't be up for re-election anytime soon, he'll have plenty of time to "potentially recover...or make things worse for himself."

And it could go either way. If he sticks to his story and doesn't have a meltdown, maybe voters will be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt by next fall. But it might be hard for him to win back the public's trust if he does the kinds of things he's prone to do. Like the brief tirade against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan he gave on the House floor in 2007. He stood at the dais and went on a rant filled with Star Trek references, claiming that there were no Vulcans in the Bush White House, only Klingons, who unlike "real" Klingons from the fictional television show, never had to fight a battle. It culminated with Wu jabbing his finger into the podium and pronouncing: "Don't let faux Klingons send real Americans to War! It's wrong."

The Beaverton Valley Times editorial referenced an incident last fall at a business event in his district when Wu stood up to address the group and "he frantically yelled out a quotation in German made almost a century ago by Prussian Kaiser Friedrich Wilhelm II. And then he promptly sat down."

Congressmen as brilliant as Wu can get away with that kind of behavior as simply eccentric. But only until they confess to having mental problems. His brilliance is not in dispute. Wu attended both Harvard Medical and Yale Law school. But now that his mental health has been called into question, the same kinds of things that used to pass without much notice by the voters will be informing their decisions at the polls in 2012.