Evolution has made them more principled politicians.

President Clinton, we're told, is reckless. He was reckless with Gennifer Flowers (in a bathroom during a party), with Kathleen Willey (just off the Oval Office), and with Monica Lewinsky (ditto, ditto, ditto). Heedless of the consequences, Clinton again and again has followed, as Joseph Campbell used to say, his bliss.

All this may be true. But if it is, how do we reconcile it with Clinton's behavior in the political realm? There he has carried risk aversion to rarely reached heights. He will pay almost any price, in terms of policy, to marginally reduce the chances of losing an election.

To pick up some superfluous Slavic-American votes, Clinton decided to expand NATO, something virtually no policy analyst anywhere near him on the ideological spectrum considered a good idea. To pick up some superfluous Cuban-American votes, he signed the Helms-Burton law, which predictably enraged America's key allies and trading partners. Meanwhile, over in domestic policy, Clinton's lodestar has been the focus group.

How can it be that these two identities--bold, reckless pursuer of bliss and timid, desperate pursuer of office--exist in the same man?

T here are to resolve this paradox. One is to remember that the pursuit of office can lead to bliss. Maybe Clinton's fondness for the Gennifers and Monicas who are the perks of a job like governor or president keeps him from taking policy risks that might deprive him of the job. Maybe his emulation of John F. Kennedy's lifestyle is what keeps him from abiding by Profiles in Courage.

Come to think of it, Kennedy himself, though nominally the author of that book, didn't glaringly exemplify its message of principle above politics. Hence, a general theory: Men who obsessively convert power into sex are less willing to risk power for principle.

W e can test this theory by using as our control group Richard Nixon. For all we know Nixon had a tryst or two--but he can't hold a candle to the legends of Kennedy or Clinton. Try picturing him cavorting in the White House pool with nude staff nymphs or confidently steering a beautiful woman's hand southward.

So does our theory hold? Did Nixon's presumed freedom from sex addiction leave him free from addiction to office? Um, no. That Nixon had more than a casual attraction to power is a fact to which various convicted felons on his staff can attest. If we want principled leaders, electing more men like Nixon and fewer like Clinton wouldn't seem to be the ticket.

On the other hand, it might make sense to elect fewer men generally. The point here isn't just the well-known claim that men by nature are more blindly libidinous than women. It is the Darwinian corollary of that claim: Men by nature pursue power more desperately than women do.

During evolution, the whole Darwinian point of male power--lots of sex, lots of offspring--didn't compute for females. For women, lots of sex didn't mean lots of offspring. Power, to be sure, brought other benefits to a female's genetic legacy, so women naturally like having power. They just don't like it as much as men do.