It has been an embarrassing couple of weeks for America. First, there was yet another outrage by American troops in the Middle East: some soldiers were photographed with body parts of Taliban fighters. And then, Secret Service agents made sexy time with some Colombian ladies of the night.

There seems to be a lack of discipline in the American military--hell a U.S. Congressman, that great statesman Allen West, "retired" from the Army after being accused of assault for firing a gun near the head of an Iraqi police officer. That was in 2003.  There have been other incidents similar to the current one, photos of U.S. soldiers humiliating enemy dead and alive. There have been Koran burnings and Koran toilet dumpings. Some antedate the Obama administration, certainly. The U.S. military has been on President Obama's watch--and Secretary Panetta's and Secretary Gates'--for three years now.  Whatever the cause, discipline, "culture," the administration hasn't stopped it.

"Culture."  The culture of the Secret Service has to change according to some.  Or, there were just a few--about a dozen actually--"rogue" agents in Cartagena...Nah, it's a culture thing.  If power is the ultimate aphrodisiac then the Secret Service guys, with their earpieces, shades, serious expressions, weapons, charged with protecting the lives of political elites, are sex appeal incarnate.

So why did they have to pay?

The Secret Service may not have "lost," as they put it, a president since 1963 but they have lost their place on the pedestal of heroes for many Americans, this one included. It's not just rogue agents. It's the culture, and undisciplined personnel. I would have thought the vetting of applicants for Secret Service positions would have weeded out men who would hire prostitutes while on assignment.  I think a lot of Americans would have thought that.

Image: Hercules, Deianeira, and the Centaur Nessus. Bartholomaeus Spranger (1580).