Political wives are a strange breed to me.  The most famous example to illustrate my point is Hillary Clinton.  I am sorry, but there is no way in hell that I’m going to stand by my man when he embarrasses me in front of the entire country by having an affair with a much younger woman.  It’s not going to happen.  He would be kicked out on his behind the minute he admitted to me that it was true.  Even if there was an “arrangement” in place that allowed for straying, (harf!) I am not going to stand by and be thought of as the woman that condoned her husband’s cheating.  Period.  I think this is why I could never support her politically.  She didn’t stand up to her own husband when he cheated on her, but wants to be the president?  Perhaps a weird and shallow reason for not supporting someone, but she never appealed to me after that.

I’m kind of fascinated by the fact that so many well-known political figures do seem to stray.  Seriously?  You think that a young and indiscreet girl won’t blab the intimate details?  You think that you won’t be followed to that hotel you have no business being at?  You think people won’t find out that you were in Argentina with your mistress instead of hiking on the Appalachian Trail?  If you really do believe you won’t get caught, I have a bridge I can sell you!

But Jenny Sanford has earned my utmost respect for her handling of her husband’s affair.  I love that she wasn’t standing at his side when he admitted what he’d done.  That she had already left him/kicked him out.  That she has said she doesn’t care about what happens to his political career.  That she is showing her 4 sons that behavior of the sort their father has engaged in is not acceptable.  But in all of that, she is also willing to work things out.  I like to think I’d try to repair my marriage if it happened to me, but that I would do it in such a way that allows me to maintain my self-respect.  Based on the news reports, it seems like she’s doing her best to achieve this.

And shame on Governor Sanford.  Choosing to fly to South America to spend Father’s Day with your mistress rather than your own 4 children? Disgusting.  And if I was his wife, that is probably the point the whole thing would have been unforgivable.  Especially if we had just started a trial separation to see if things could be worked out.  The fact that he took off to see his girlfriend right away would have been enough to tell me exactly where I stood.  He deserves to have his political career ruined at this point.

Filed under: News/Current Events, Politics/Government