Non Party Politics

Long-Suffering Political Spouses

All the major news media are blasting the nation with the latest sexual piccadillo by a politician. This week it’s New York Governor Eliot Spitzer on the hot seat. Last week it was someone else and next week or month there will be someone else.

I don’t want to imply that I think Governor Spitzer’s admitted involvement with a prostitution ring is morally or ethically admirable. But I also know that many men in power have always felt that they were somehow ‘above the rules’ and entitled to extra privileges! For centuries, the practice of keeping a wife and a mistress have been S.O.P. for CEOs and other business moguls. (Don’t act so shocked!)

When you think about it, in a country with a greater than 50% divorce rate, single’s and/or topless bars, and internet pornography, why should Spitzer’s infidelities surprise us? I can understand his wife being surprised, but it seems hypocritical to think that politicians don’t face the same temptations that men in power ( and the rest of us humans) have always faced. The only difference is the sense of entitlement that so many big shots have.

Like a few of our former presidents and other fellow politicians, Spitzer’s big NO-NO was that he got caught! He has already apologized and said he won’t resign. Whether he is ever re-elected to anything only time will tell. But I think there is another issue here that deserves some recognition.

As Gov. Spitzer made his public apology at a press conference, in keeping with tradition, his poor wife stood at his side to ’stand by her man’. Looking shell-shocked and humiliated, Mrs. Spitzer followed the time-honored example of Jacquelyn Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, and too many other political wives to name.

I realize there are emotional and financial obligations that make this show of support necessary but, just once, I’d like to see the cheated spouse stand at the press conference, then ‘deck’ the SOB in front of the world. It might not be the politically correct thing to do, but jilted wives across the nation would cheer her on.

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