E-mails detail Sanford's affair
The State in South Carolina has suspected Gov. Mark Sanford has been having an affair for quite some time. Apparently the newspaper got copies of emails between Sanford and his beauty of Buenos Aires in December, but could not verify their veracity. The emails came from an anonymous source. Those emails, however, may have prompted Sanford to tell his wife about the affair before she read it in the papers.
It’s hard to know what goes through somebody’s mind when they’re involved in a heady romance and attempting to make leaps in their political career. At one point, Sanford was rumored to be a top Republican pick to take on Obama in 2012. We’ve seen these scandals in Republicans and Democrats alike. It’s as though their external barometer gets turned off…or they just surround themselves with so many loyal people that nobody bothers to notice or remember the imperfections of a politician on a meteoric rise. There is nobody there to slap their hand away from the cookie jar or ask them to think again. Or maybe the politician doesn’t listen to trusted advisers and staff who are making gentle corrections. It’s had to know and it does take an abundance of ego to even want to pursue an elected office and believe you can win, in addition to a desire to serve your fellow man.
But the common theme in all these politician personal transgressions is arrogance. For Sanford it’s one thing to cheat on his wife, he will spend the rest of his life trying to answer for that to his family. It’s another for him to thumb his nose at his elected office and disappear. We saw similar arrogance with President Bill Clinton, who whether he had sex with that woman or not, apparently did not consider it abusing his power or office when he even entertained a flirtation with a overeager intern in a cute blue dress.
It’s not that every politician needs to get on television and sob like Jimmy Swaggert “I have sinned…” but, it would be nice to see some geniune humility, or better yet some respect for the elected office, whatever it is.
After all, some countries are still fighting for their right to vote and for it to be counted. Have some public officials forgotten that?
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Comments
Well said. Is it the power that corrupts, or does the person arrive to the office with personal weaknesses and the spotlight highlights them? Does cheating on your wife mean you will cheat on your taxes or managing state dollars? Seems like there are a lot of powerful people who have been unfaithful to their spouse throughout history, does their political record show that the two are related? You pose some good questions.
What is wrong with our politicians today? It seems like every time I turn on the TV some elected official is in trouble for being in bed with someone else…or an airport bathroom for that matter. I honestly don’t even know how I feel about it. Part of me wants to say what a despicable person, throw him out, and the other part wants to say it’s his personal life leave him the hell alone.
We didn’t elect these people to care about their personal lives. For the most part, I really don’t care what they do behind closed doors. When I am voting for a candidate, I want that person, once elected, to keep their promises. Keep our city/state safe. Make jobs, better education, get people involved in their communities. When these candidates are running we don’t hear them say “and I promise I’ll fix health care and not cheat on my wife.” That’s not what they’re elected to do.
Now on the other hand, what a person does behind closed doors does speak to their character. If an elected official is willing to cheat on his/her spouse, then how can we trust them to legislate or take care of our money the way they said they will? I know business life and personal life are two entirely different things, and we should err from mixing the two. But it does shed light on what a person really is like.
I want my politicians to do what they promised. Not turn their personal lives into a national reality show. This isn’t Jon and Kate Plus 8.