Same job, different uniform.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Silda Spitzer, Hung Out to Dry

Take this as a given: I have no regard whatsoever for New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. I never have. I found him to be unscrupulous and ambitious in a overly-vicious and ideological way, willing to trample whomever and whatever got in his path. While NY Attorney General, he was pitiless in prosecution, usually against people who could not fight back, and as governor, he has been willing to attack his political enemies by any means necessary. He had had his staff go after State Senator Joseph Bruno (R), alleging improprieties in his state travel expenses, an attempt that current Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (a fellow Democrat and son of former governor Mario Cuomo) shot down quickly as unfounded and inappropriate. In New York politics, this sort of rebuke is as rare as Sasquatch sightings in Central Park.

As public officials go, Mr. Spitzer is not at all a nice man. As a private individual, he made a number of incredibly stupid and incomprehensible decisions that have ended his political career and resulted in his resignation as governor. And, as a married man, his behavior was reprehensible.

Men and women make mistakes and have errors in judgment all the time. It happens. Sex makes idiots of us all, and people behave in ways that damage and destroy their personal relationships, often without giving it a lot of thought. And there is a reason that prostitution is generally considered to be the world's oldest profession. But most of the time, bad behavior is not played out on a public stage. Betrayal, and the consequences of that betrayal, usually plays out behind closed doors, where the person betrayed can retain a certain amount of dignity.

Obviously, I do not know Silda Spitzer. My understanding (limited to reading news accounts, etc) is that she is a fine woman, and, certainly, her willingness to stand beside her husband during two hideously embarrassing and highly personal public statements speaks volumes to her character. But it doesn't say much about his.

She should not have been there. Governor Spitzer should not have brought her out there to stand beside him as a prop, hung out to dry in the glare of media scrutiny. He should have had the common decency to take his lumps, publicly, alone before his constituents. Instead, we were all "treated" to the sight of a tired, saddened, shell-shocked woman, struggling to keep it together while a man she entrusted her life to talked about trying to regain that trust.

It was indecent. It was horrible. And I take no joy in Spitzer's downfall, whatever I think of him personally or as a politician. I might have, once, but the pain written across Silda Spitzer's face put the situation into keen perspective.

This morning, I found myself praying for them both.


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6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...




That is so right! But everybody does it, don't they? Here's my wife, loyal and suffering. Ugh.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...




I am so sick of the "poor woman whom her husband has betrayed" story. We've seen it before. Look at Hillary Clinton. Her husband had is assistant give him oral sex in the oval office, and she stood beside him. Now, she is capitalizing upon his infamy.
I belief that a strong woman would stand up to everything and say: "This is wrong, I do not condone this behavior in anyway, and I am divorcing him!"
Politics, unfortunately does not allow this...
It is a sad state America is in.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

 
Blogger girlfriday said...




Really, Laura? I disagree. "Politics" in America would embrace the woman who divorced who husband in these circumstances. We're "girl power," whatever else we are.

What if Silda doesn't believe in divorce? What if she knows things about her husband that we don't? What if she decided that "for better or worse" meant even this?

The crime, as fisher points out, is Mr. Spitzer exploiting his wife's apparent loyalty.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

 
Blogger elphaba said...




I agree with the part about "not knowing," girlfriday, and I tend to think that had Hilary, for example, divorced Bill after the adultery, she might still be running for president today.

Staying married for political reasons isn't very in keeping with what I think God's purpose(s) is for a marriage. Namely, respect, edification and love.

That said, we don't have a way of knowing what a person's reasons are for staying in a marriage, and it isn't our responsibility.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...




Bottom line, his wife didn't have to stand by while being embarrassed.
I say to women: Do not allow ourselves to be victims!
He was wrong, yet so was she. It isn't her job to condone his immoral, adulteress behavior. She made that choice.
Politicians eat it up, so does the news media. Shame on everyone!

Saturday, March 15, 2008

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...




Women can stay and that doesn't make them victims or wimps or fools. Divorce is something God gave us to get us out of marriages where the partner has cheated (wide definition there, perhaps), but it is an OPTION.

Monday, March 17, 2008

 

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