The secret lives of political wives

New York governor Eliot Spitzer is all over the news today. Not surprisingly, he announced his resignation today, in light of the Client 9 Scandal. Not a very bright political move.

He is not the focus of this blog posting though. The focus is on his wife, Silda Spitzer. My thoughts are summarized well by this post: Women ponder why Spitzer's wife stood by.

I don't imagine the life of a political wife is very easy. Even when things are going well, they have to tag along for inane photo opportunities, smiling blankly at cameras and reporters. They spend a lot of time on their own, while the spouse is off on "business trips". Then, when things start going bad, politicians use the traditional excuse of wanting to "spend more time with my wife and family" as a reason to leave the political scene, while saving face. Political wives always seem to be getting the short end of the stick.

When sex scandals happen, this is not a situation where politicians can play the "spend more time with my wife and family" card. (If that were true, they wouldn't have to be dealing with a sex scandal, would they?) During sex scandals, political wives are faced with the terrible responsibility of "standing by their man" in front of a room full of cameras and reporters. The spousal show of support is nothing but a theatre show for the public, which subjects the political wife to additional disgrace.

The Spitzer couple's emotionally sterile display does nothing to deter others. I believe that a political sex scandal should play out like a celebrity break-up. I'm expecting public shouting matches, angry voice-mails, and public interviews where the political wife openly emasculates the cheating spouse. I want to see emotion, rage, and childish name-calling, like the Spears-Federline breakup.