The Image of a Crutch

Even before New York Governor Eliot Spitzer got caught up in a prostitution scandal, I have been reflecting on the habit of politicians to face the media with their wives at their side when such controversy hits.

Quite a bit has been written and said on the subject, especially in the last week since the Spitzer story made headlines. I recommend listening to an essay, The Face, by Ann Taylor Fleming that aired on Jim Lehrer’s NewsHour about Spitzer’s wife, Silda.

Aside from such behavior, here’s what I also find troubling — I think it is safe to say that every time a politician has gotten into trouble over sex with another woman, they have faced the media with their wife at their side. They even say similar things. Spitzer said, “I have begun to atone for my private failings with my wife, Silda, my children, and my entire family. The remorse I feel will always be with me. Words cannot describe how grateful I am for the love and compassion they have shown me.” I wonder … would Spitzer say or even feel such things had he not been caught?

Why do such statements by politicians sound so phony and disingenuous? Have we simply heard similar words too often from politicians when their sexual escapades are exposed? I sense – talking with and exchanging emails with many friends – a collective feeling of … ENOUGH, we are really tired of this sort of behavior!

Even when John McCain went before cameras to debunk a New York Times report that he had stepped out on his wife, he had his wife next to him. I could not help but to feel some suspicion because he did not have the courage to face the press by himself. It was the perception of guilt because we have seen it before, and we have seen it since.

A pundit on MSNBC said, in jest, that Congress should pass a law making it a federal crime for any wife of a politician to stand by her man as he was trying to explain an extramarital affair. Not a bad idea, however outlandish.

Category: News Media, Personal notes, Reputation management