Beyond the pomp and inanity of the House and Senate efforts to remove the president from office, the greatest mystery of the last year is the remarkable fact that as more and more evidence came to light about the president's misdeeds, his popularity ratings soared higher and higher. Why is it that this man we elected to the most powerful office in the world should gain approval points while it is revealed that he has gone against the moral, ethical, and legal rules that are supposedly at the center of our national character? Why do we denounce his behavior but overwhelmingly like the man?

I have a theory. We tend to forget that beneath the thin veneer of civilization, we are a branch of the primate family. We have a specialization that is unique in the animal kingdom, the use of language and the storage of knowledge through language. We occupy so much of our time exercising this ability that we are mostly unaware of the unconscious, nonverbal, primate processes going on underneath. Only in marketing psychology is ape-think given much attention, and in this discipline the appeal of the president is obvious.

Mr. Clinton is the perfect alpha-male, the ultimate leader of the biggest troop of television-informed Homo Sapiens on the planet. In a troop of gorillas, the leader is the silverback, a male of mature years, serious mien, and overflowing virility. All of the males wish to be like him and all of the females want to be with him. He has first mating privileges with receptive females, who often go to great lengths to display themselves to him in order to attract his attention. Is this beginning to sound familiar?

In recent years, it has become possible to analyze the structure of DNA and to determine how much DNA two beings have in common. This is how DNA is used in the forensic determination of family relationship. Researchers were startled to find that male and female humans have more DNA in common with the corresponding gender in chimpanzees than they do with each other.

The rational adult component of the American people may have moral, ethical, and legal objections to the president's behavior, but their inner ape is cheering him on. Surveys have shown that 40% of men and a smaller percentage of women have strayed one or more times from their marriage vows. I'm sure that they did this with the hope that they could "get away with it". Comes the president in the same situation, exercising his evolution-given right to tryst with pretty young women. The citizenry is literally of two minds: the 25,000-year-old, language-conditioned, civilized mind says "No! No! No!", but the 10-million-year-old ape-within is shouting "Go! Go! Go!". At some level, every man envies the leader's power to draw attractive females. At some level, every woman wishes she were Monica. As Henry Kissinger said, "Power is the great aphrodisiac". This is not a specifically human trait: it's in our primate genes. The ape component of our psyches cares not a whit about perjury or obstruction of justice. Evolution just wants to see the best genes passed on to the next generation, and, using ape-think, the ape who rises to the top of the social/political structure has, by definition, the best genes.

In my lifetime we've elected two fairly young presidents, Mr. Clinton and JFK. Both of them have turned out to be a bit more sexually active than we would, perhaps, prefer our Chief Executive to be. Given our primate heritage and the psychodynamics of people with the motivation to rise to the top, it may be that the only way to avoid monkey-business in the Oval Office is to elect presidents from the "Elder Statesman" archetype. Perhaps they'd be less driven to hanky-panky while still having the desire to govern.

With a commentary for WCPN, this is Marc Myers.

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