Wronged political wives

Yep, I’ll go there.

There’s something great about these things. Political wives are pretty much the only group in our society that is forced to be in the public eye. (Child stars also come to mind.) Hollywood types tend to marry their own and no one really cares about the wives of athletes, CEOs, and writers. They at least have the option of remaining private citizens, but political wives don’t. What’s worse is that they have to take a passive role. Even when they’re active behind the scenes, as Jenny Sanford and Elizabeth Edwards apparently were, they’re required to give the appearance of passivity. Wives who come off as anything more than tea-hosting, controversy-avoiding props suffer for it: see Hillary Clinton circa 1993. Even if these post-scandal exposes are sensational and self-serving, it’s a little gratifying to see people finally using the system to which they were forcibly prostrated.