My favorite TV show aired its final episode last Sunday. Seven years ago, it started when the image of Eliot Spitzer's wife, standing sadly beside him as he resigned his Governorship in a sex scandal, brought the "good wife" into our vocabulary. The show promised a look at what that "good wife" could be all about -- and delivered with excellence week after week. A smart woman in mid-life meets the world.
In the end, she remains "the good wife" and in the process loses some of her soul. We don't hate her. We sigh.
Now, Donald Trump wants to remind us of the other "good wife" who took up even more of our nation's consciousness. He wants to rip her for being a fraud; this woman who moved into her own territory -- lofty territory indeed -- while remaining the "good wife" through the years. Has she too lost some of her soul? Do we hate her? Or do we sigh?
Good questions to ponder. It's difficult to consider Hillary and her political aspirations/sacrifices without invoking the entertainment model of Beltway politics, "House of Cards." But that reduces the people to reptiles, so the emotional component is gone. I hate to think that by getting a little bit better informed about how things can play out in power politics, I lose my compassion! If they are losing their humanity, I don't have to lose mine! I wonder, though, if it isn't somewhat fair to analyze Hillary and Bill's story more from a standpoint of public humiliation than as a case of the humble wife, long-suffering and then broadsided by the blow of infidelity. Ahem..... pardon the word choice.
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