Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Mississippi) is still struggling to salvage his political career even after apologizing on the Black Entertainment Network for making pro-segregation remarks last week. Lott's failure to prove his sincerity to the public has encouraged pundits to begin planning for Lott's resignation as majority leader, and Republican Senators are calling for the same. Unfortunately for Lott, had his most recent salvo of apologies been different, he might have bettered the odds for keeping his job.
"He could have done more in the way of being contrite," says Louis Perrott, Ph.D., a business psychologist based in Roanoke, Virginia. "He is moving quickly in calling for forgiveness, and people aren't inclined to do that. I don't think they see him in a sympathetic light yet." Perrott also notes that Lott extended his apologies without first demonstrating some form of penance, another normal step in the process of earning forgiveness.
When the dust does settle, most expect that Lott will not have changed dramatically as a result of the controversy. "He can change his public behavior, he can change what he says, he can learn something from this experience. But [change] on a deep characterological basis? Unlikely," concludes Perrott.
