With his arbitrary disappearance and revelation of infidelity, Sanford has dominated recent news. But despite his shocking admission of betrayal, Sanford’s press conference left me with more regard and sympathy for the governor (personally, if not his politics) than I’ve had so far.
Until recently, I viewed him as a zealous ideologue whose outlook I could never get on board with. Today, I saw a sincere human being deeply troubled by his infidelity, and unable to come to grips with the damage he’s done to his wife and children; a political star with a seemingly bright future whose career has been gutted. And, as these emails (almost unequivocally) reveal, a man in love with a woman he may never see again.
I don’t presume to judge Sanford, and I genuinely wish him the best in overcoming this. Because, like Alec Baldwin, I’m of the opinion that personal matters as such should be left out of politics. Political figures should be judged by their accomplishments and by the impact their leadership has on people’s lives.
Unfortunately (and quite ironically), people like Sanford have never seen it that way.
Take the obvious example. Sanford, along with other adulterous Republicans like John Ensign, Larry Craig and Newt Gingrich, were instrumental in making Bill Clinton’s life a living hell during Monica-gate. They relished their moral high-ground while dragging the nation into a painful year-long saga, designed to cause a world of hurt over something that was none of their business and harmed nobody.
There’s nothing wrong with promoting family values. But it becomes toxic when leaders use it not only to strip rights from women and same-sex couples, but to condescendingly demand virtues of family loyalty from others that they can’t live up to themselves; virtues that should be praised, but which we, as imperfect beings, possess imperfectly.
And that’s why Mark Sanford, unlike the humble ones in his profession, deserves the constant badgering and pounding he’ll be receiving from the media — the GOP’s tenacious peddling of puritanical values has created a culture wherein deeply personal matters can never remain personal.
Maybe it’s true what they say - those who have the greatest need to impose morality on others are the ones who have the hardest time imposing it on themselves.
One can only hope this recent string of scandals brings the party’s—and the country’s—rhetoric down to earth, and we can someday live in a society where (like Republicans disingenuously urge) government is actually separated from people’s personal lives.