Luis Davila’s Weblog

Very sadly we all learned today that New York Governor Eliot Spitzer resigned his post after it was disclosed in the media that he had been spending around $80,000 in prostitutes. This came from the man that the press liked to call “Mr. Clean” and “Eliot Ness.”

I think other blogs and the general news media have covered this and will continue to cover this episode for days or or weeks to come. Nevertheless, I have not yet read commentary on how this is going to pan out for Spitzer’s wife (I’ve only read one article in the NY Times so far – http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/12/nyregion/12wife.html)

Don’t get me wrong, I feel bad for her and her family. It must be an extremely difficult situation to be in, and I can’t begin to imagine how she must feel. However, it is hard to understand why she (as other politicians’ wives in the past) stood with her husband as he admitted such a scandalous affair.

Maybe she did it to protect her children or out of some strange type of loyalty towards her husband. Regardless of why she did it, she might want to consider some prospective opportunities based on the history of a similar disraught wife: Hillary Clinton.

A lot of cynics have commented on the reasons why Hillary Clinton remained married to Bill Clinton after the series of sex scandals that have been linked to the former president’s life. Many of them claim that she stayed eyeing a potential political career. This theory has been given credibility by how well she has done for herself in the political arena. Silda Wall Spitzer resembles Hillary in interesting ways; they both left lucrative law practices to support their husbands’ political careers, and both have shown a particular interest in promoting children’s causes.

Given the similarities, it might be interesting to see if Silda Wall Spitzer is also accused of sticking to her husband for the prospects of a potential political career. Only time will tell, but who knows… Maybe New Yorkers will have a Sen. Silda W. Spitzer very soon!