Bimbo Feminism

The sorriest aspect of philandering politicians is often their wives, the spouses who stand by their man and play the victim in the service of political viability.  The modern standard for political survival was set by former NY Senator, now Secretary of State Hillary Rodham, a player who may soon be in the on-deck circle for the Presidency.  Still, Mrs. Clinton is just one of many.  The modern indulgent political spouse has a long history going back to icons like Jackie Kennedy and Eleanor Roosevelt.  The Huma Abedin/Tony Weiner tale has a special irony.  Huma is Mrs. Clinton's deputy chief of staff.  The famously priapic Bill Clinton officiated at the recent Weiner nuptials on Long Island.  More recently, while Anthony was getting roasted by the media, Mrs. Abedin Weiner was conveniently off on a trip to the Arab Emirates with Mrs. Clinton. This is not to blame victims.  Political wives are frequently represented as smart and capable in their own right.  How could they not know?  New Jersey Governor McGreevy was cheating with men, a low blow even by Jersey Shore standards.  President Clinton was frolicking with an intern a floor below his wife and daughter in the White House.  Governor Schwarzenegger had his maid and wife pregnant at the same time!  Not wanting to know the truth is not the same as not knowing.  And isn't feigned ignorance a not too subtle kind of enabling? eruptions of his own, covered for Jack Kennedy; and Bill Clinton weathered impeachment with the help of a servile wife and newspapers like the Post.  Hillary claimed that her husband was the victim of a "vast right-wing conspiracy" and that canard was spread far and wide by a sympathetic Press.  In fact, Clinton never needed any real enemies.  Like Tony Weiner, his real bête noire " to describe a long list of presidential gal pals.  How feminism is advanced by defending a serial predator and his co-dependent wife is still a mystery.  Ms. Wright's notable contribution to the exploitive sex debate was to cast all "other" women as floozies.  Wright got it wrong; the true bimbos are the female enablers -- those wives, daughters, sisters, mothers, and female groupies who defend creepy behavior and thus make politicians like Clinton and Weiner likely. Under the Rodham ethic, you stand by your man, play the victim, and maintain your political possibilities.