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Why Political Wives Stand by Their Men
March 15, 2008 9:35 AM
by
findingDulcinea Staff
Silda Spitzer, like the wives of many wayward politicians, stood stoically beside her shamed husband. Why?
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On Monday, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer appeared beside his wife before the media and apologized for his behavior. Observers were left wondering why women such as Silda are willing to endure such a humiliating experience.
A communications expert for ABC News conjectures that while the average woman might leave the relationship, “With these high-profile cases, everything is at stake—the job, the prestige—and so it’s almost the norm for the wife to stand there and say, ‘yes, he was wrong, but I forgive him.’”
Silda is the latest in a line of women who have stood by high-powered politician husbands who are immured in scandal, including Suzanne Craig, the wife of Sen. Larry Craig, Dina Matos McGreevey, the wife of former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey, and of course Sen. Hillary Clinton, wife of former President Bill Clinton. Clinton said in a 1992 interview on 60 Minutes, "You know, I'm not sitting here—some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette."
On CNN’s Larry King Live, Dina Matos McGreevey talked about the difficulty of standing by a spouse caught in a sex scandal and said that viewers can’t know what it is like to be in Silda’s shoes.
“My heart is broken for her because I know exactly what she is feeling,” McGreevey said.
A communications expert for ABC News conjectures that while the average woman might leave the relationship, “With these high-profile cases, everything is at stake—the job, the prestige—and so it’s almost the norm for the wife to stand there and say, ‘yes, he was wrong, but I forgive him.’”
Silda is the latest in a line of women who have stood by high-powered politician husbands who are immured in scandal, including Suzanne Craig, the wife of Sen. Larry Craig, Dina Matos McGreevey, the wife of former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey, and of course Sen. Hillary Clinton, wife of former President Bill Clinton. Clinton said in a 1992 interview on 60 Minutes, "You know, I'm not sitting here—some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette."
On CNN’s Larry King Live, Dina Matos McGreevey talked about the difficulty of standing by a spouse caught in a sex scandal and said that viewers can’t know what it is like to be in Silda’s shoes.
“My heart is broken for her because I know exactly what she is feeling,” McGreevey said.
Headline links: Stand by your man
Political experts say that wronged political wives like Silda Spitzer often face pressure to show support for their husbands, because presenting a united front in the midst of scandal has become the norm.
Source: ABC News
At Slate’s female-focused blog the XX Factor, Anne Applebaum defends the wives who face the humiliating press conference that follows a sexual scandal. “Speaking (ahem) as a political wife myself, I can see one clear advantage to this option: It’s all over quickly. And no one asks you for a follow up interview. You appear once—and then you vanish forever, along with your husband’s career … And you can, of course, quietly change the locks the next day.”
Source: Slate
Amy Ephron at the Huffington Post asks “Why do they show up? Why did Silda Spitzer appear at her husband’s side at his press conference today? The picture in the New York Times is so telling, so sad, so perfectly humiliating.”
Source: The Huffington Post
Background: Eliot Spitzer linked to prostitution; apologizes over ‘private matter’
On Monday, New York’s governor apologized to his family and the public over what he called a “private matter,” after an FBI wiretap allegedly caught him speaking to a prostitution ring, four members of which were recently indicted in a federal investigation.
Source: findingDulcinea
Related Topics: The wronged wives club
Newsweek chronicles what it calls the “wronged wives club,” including the scandals involving Spitzer, McGreevey, Craig, Louisiana Sen. David Vitter and Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
Source: Newsweek
Dina Matos McGreevy was interviewed by Newsweek last year about what it was like to stand by her husband, former New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey, as he announced at a press conference that he was “a gay American” and would resign from office after a sex scandal involving a former aide.
Source: Newsweek
Matos McGreevey spoke on CNN’s Larry King Live about the difficulty of standing by a spouse during a sex scandal and says that viewers can’t know what it is like to be in Silda Spitzer’s shoes.
Source: CNN
In the wake of the Spitzer scandal, ABC News asked psychologists to analyze the phenomenon of powerful men who self-destruct at the pinnacle of their careers. The article concludes that Spitzer’s fall was brought about through hubris, an exaggerated sense of self-worth, after which there always comes a fall.
Source: ABC
© 2008 Dulcinea Media, Inc.
