In a paper published in the November 5th issue of the science journal Nature, genetic researcher Eric Lander and historian Joseph Ellis confirm the long suspected liaison between Thomas Jefferson and his slave, Sally Hemings.

That this finding comes as a big surprise to certain individuals says a lot more about America, than it does about Jefferson.

As far back as 1802, James Callender, a disappointed job seeker and supposed drunk, accused Jefferson of fathering illegitimate children by Hemings. Jefferson didn't even respond to the charge, but it was well publicized, and was used by his political opponents. In 1837, a young man, known to be descended from Hemings, told newspapers that Jefferson was his father.

Biographers of Jefferson, and keepers of the eternal flame of the founders' mythology, violently disagreed with this notion. Before long, Jefferson/Hemings became a black versus white issue.

How sad. How needless.

To deny that slaves and masters had contact is to deny human nature, and not just for the reasons of easy sex. What female slave wouldn't want to lighten her load if she could win the master's favor?

But there's more here. Jefferson is an American icon, and generations of us have been raised on the absurd notion that even though politicians are all too human these days, somehow back around 1776, we were dealing with demigods. Nothing could be further from the truth.

If George Washington was our greatest president, it was probably because he was the only one who didn't want the job. As a war hero, he was begged to take the office. After his tenure, the squabbling started--between Jefferson and Adams, and later between Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.

That Federalist Hamilton is usually remembered as a power mad elitist oligarch, while Jefferson is described in glowing "common man" terms, belies the fact that the United States at present, and for a good long time, has conformed to Hamilton's concept infinitely more than Jefferson's.

That Jefferson is "revealed" to be a closet racist since he kept slaves even though he was publicly against slavery is hardly news. All the Founders were racist by today's standards, and truth be told, nearly all people the world over are racist now, if this term is to be applied fairly. So what?

Our famous ancestors were mortal humans, to be sure. But to argue, as some do, that Jefferson's past gives Clinton a free pass, serves only to tarnish the memory of a great American, while sullying the very likely love relationship between Jefferson and Sally Hemings.

Monica Lewinsky, you're no Sally Hemings.

Bill Clinton, you're no Thomas Jefferson.