1. I have said it before. Maybe the wrong Sanford was governor.
2. That being true, there is an additional point to be made. Marriages generally fall apart due to the conduct of both parties. I am not going to delve into that subject because there is no excuse for Mark Sanford’s conduct and his lack of any emotional or moral clarity. He is a grinding reminder that sometimes politicians are creatures of others work, not self-actuated achievers.
3. In this case it looks like Jenny Sanford looks to be the prime motivator behind the Sanford political life. Why she would hang on to such an arrangement is anybody’s guess. My wife of 22 years tells me that Jenny isn’t shooting as straight as she puts up. (She (That must be obeyed) told me point blank that if I did “that” to her I’d be lucky to afford to rent a room from someone because she’d take me for all she could get and hit me in the butt with the door on the way out…)
I rather suspect that Jenny Sanford is a political “wife” and enjoys the comfort and attention granted to high executive spouses. Those comforts are not unknown to those who pay attention. Does the name Clinton ring a bell? Not so much Rodham I would gather.
4. All of that aside, Mrs. Sanford has demonstrated a public demeanor that is extremely praiseworthy. Governor Sanford comes off as weak willed and mewling. If his marriage was a failure, and the routes of marriage counseling and therapy didn’t help, before his urge to dally occurred, then he should have done the honorable thing, filed for a civil divorce, worked out the issues with his ex, and lived with those consequences, free to conduct his own affairs (no groans please).
This is a mess, and one of his own making. At some point responsibility is assigned, instead of manfully accepted. Sanford should immediately resign. He is ineffective now. He is also unacceptable to those for whom personal honor is as important a trait as public effectiveness.
Meanwhile, Jenny “Sanford” (I wonder if she’ll do the new feminist thing and take back her maiden name.) might show up where she seems to have belonged in the first place. Running for something on her own under her own steam.
R/John – TMF
