InsaneJournal

Current mood:

thoughtful

Does this skirt make my ass look humilated?
I'm supposed to be traveling today, but it's snowing. Winter storm warning. 9" of snow forecasted. *checks calendar* Yep, it's supposed to be spring. *sigh*

frayach asked me to blog about Eliot Spitzer (former governor of NY who was publicly linked in a prostitution scandal). Specifically her question was, "Do you think Eliot Spitzer's wife should have refused to stand beside him at his press conferences?"

Okay I have opinions about the whole matter, but let me just answer the question as it was specifically stated.

Do I think she should have refused? The thing is it's not my place to say. It's not my marriage. I can no more tell someone how to act within the confines of their marriage than someone has the right to tell me how to act, but if you were to ask me if I am angry with the notion that a woman who marries a politically ambitious man is somehow expected to publicly stand beside him after he's been unfaithful to her. Hell, yes. I mean, how humiliating. Is saving your marriage worth it, or should I take the more cynical view and ask is your husband's or your own political or professional aspirations worth it?

Remind me never to get involved in politics, because I'd say no. But I'm not Hillary Clinton who seems to be doing just fine after standing beside her husband during the whole Monica Lewinsky debacle, and can anyone honestly say she would have a legitimate shot at the Presidency if she had divorced Bill. (And I suppose one could argue if we are taking about the Clintons, if Hillary had left Bill while he was President that it would have caused too much of a distraction from his job, although that didn't stop Kenneth Starr from launching a ridiculous, I thought, investigation into the whole matter.)

Frankly, I find the whole notion that that is part and parcel to being a political wife utterly loathsome. And I wonder if women are ever going to be taken seriously in politics if political wives are expected to publicly put up with this behavior, or are marriages such as these business contracts and nothing more?

And what if, say there is a female governor who is caught in a prostitution sting, would her cuckolded husband be expected to put on his best suit and publicly stand beside her. No. It would probably make them both look worse in the eyes of the press and the public.

Some links on the subject:
~ NPR.org has a gallery of disgraced wives "standing by their men," starting with Edward Kennedy.

~ A funny clip of The Daily Show's Samantha Bee trotting out her husband decked in pearls and a Jackie O jacket to make her own announcement. (jezebel.com)

~ Jezebel has an interesting discussion about this whole question here, specifically wondering if Silda Spitzer would have looked worse if she hadn't stood by him, and what about their children?

What is this about?