*The Times published a follow-up profile today of Mrs. Sanford. Read it here.
For once, I think I trumped the New York Times.
Check out this article about Jenny Sanford, wife of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, after his recent announcement of a year-long affair. The basic premise of the article is this: by not standing at the press conference with her husband, Mrs. Sanford stood up for herself and her own dignity and actually turned the media frenzy in her favor.
Ever since the announcement of former NY governor Eliot Spitzer to his involvement in a prostitution ring, I've been frustrated with political wives. We see it over and over: husbands who cheat, announce it in attempts to control a leak, and the wife standing next to him. I think a Newsweek columnist said it best:
"Yet another political wife scorned, somehow willing to put on a pastel suit and sob quietly in the background as her husband explains all the very good reasons why he had boinked a dear (tan) old friend, had an affair with a man, or spent good money on a tacky hooker."
Apparantly I'm not the only one who saw Mrs. Sanford's response as a sight for sore eyes. The Times article links to multiple other commentaries, including columns from Slate magazine as well as several marriage counselors and psychologists. Newsweek even turned the incident into a project called Scorned: a user's manual, including the experiences of Hilary Rodham Clinton and Elizabeth Edwards.
Thank you, Jenny Sanford, for finally acknowledging that support doesn't have to mean taking one for the team.
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