Jenny Sanford Gets the "Vogue" Treatment

Jenny Sanford has been fairly quiet in the months since her husband, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, held that bizarro, totally captivating press conference admitting to an affair with his Argentinean sweetheart. She's broken her silence by giving an interview to Vogue, of all places. Sanford gets the standard Vogue treatment: an off-hand reference to her association with the Kennedys, the implication that she's so down-to-earth, despite the million-dollar view from her island abode. But what's really notable about the article are the retrograde notions Sanford has about her husband's dalliance:

Midlife aging is different for men than for women ... Mark is worried about what his next job is. He worries about making money, running for office again, his legacy. I know my legacy is my children. I don’t worry about that.

Certainly, there is nothing wrong with making your children your first priority. But the implication that all women are satisfied with having their children as their legacy, while men are not, is total nonsense. It's such nonsense coming from a woman like Jenny Sanford—a woman who was a successful investment banker and who ran her husband's campaign—it makes me wonder if she has an ulterior motive with presenting herself as a 50s throwback. Perhaps she's trying to save her husband's ailing career and her family's legacy.

Sanford makes many references to her faith and how she's forgiven her husband already. ("I am not in charge of revenge. That’s not up to me. That’s for the Lord to decide, and it’s important for me to teach that to my boys. All I can do is forgive.") Is Jenny Sanford trying to save her husband's rep with the Christian right, and ultimately reverse his political fortunes? Or am I overanalyzing?

Tags: Jenny Sanford, mark sanford, Vogue

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Jessica Grose is the managing editor of Double X and the co-author of Love, Mom: Poignant, Goofy, Brilliant Messages from Home. Click here to follow her on Twitter.

Comments

Jenny Sanford

By: Motion to Adjourn | Tue, 08/18/2009 - 22:54

I know exactly where you're coming from, but I don't agree at all with your analysis of Jenny (Sullivan) Sanford. It's not just because I have met her, but that I am intimately familiar with all the dynamics of this situation from my own life.

My father had a middle age affair which eventually broke up his marriage. My brother had a middle age affair which eventually broke up his marriage, and I am reluctant to write this, I was involved with a middle age man whose marriage also broke up.

I am also a mother who is raising three sons by myself because I was a part of two middle aged men's mid life crises.

What she is saying is this: for women, their children (almost) always come first. For men, it's much easier to transgress and never look back. Or at least to take a much less active role in their children's lives.

Here are some more reasons why we should respect Jenny Sullivan (Sanford):

She kicked him out of the house!
She refused to stand by him during his stomach curdling admission of guilt!
She said she would try to forgive him because she is actually a devout catholic, not because she has anything to do with his pseudo religious, right wing, cultlike "Family." If you haven't read Jeff Sharlet's book, do so right away!
A few weeks ago, she packed up her shit and moved out the Guvna's mansion!

She is raising her three sons and probably has been doing it mostly by herself for the last 10 years, and I'm sure she is doing an incredible job.

She is a good woman, a smart woman and a strong woman and as women, we should support her.

Jenny Sanford is full of it.

By: KajSiCat | Tue, 08/18/2009 - 20:32

I have to agree with Jessica, that Jenny Sanford is totally just looking out for her own best interests. There's a lot at stake here, financially. If her husband's career tanks his income will go with it, and she can kiss her cushy lifestyle and social status good-bye. Jenny won't divorce Mark because turning a blind eye to his shortcomings and "forgiving him" is probably a lot easier than actually having to get a real job and *work* to achieve that level of affluency, but I don't feel too sorry for her. Marrying him was just a means to an end, after all, and you know what they call women who sleep with men for their money....

Yes, you're overanalyzing

By: Fitzpatrick | Tue, 08/18/2009 - 15:24

Yes, her worldview is rather narrow if she thinks that women only care about their kids, but it's apparently how she feels. It's natural to project our own feelings onto our group affiliations.

I doubt that her statements about her faith or her husband's will have much effect on Christian Right voters. They've already made up their minds about whether personal and religious forgiveness constitutes political rehabilitation.

Legacies

By: happyhat | Tue, 08/18/2009 - 11:45

I believe Jenny Sanford was referring specifically to herself and her husband, not all men or women in general.

Rolling my eyes

By: geml | Tue, 08/18/2009 - 11:21

I love how Jenny Sanford can be big enough to "forgive" her husband, but evidently Jesus can't!

Please. At the risk of sounding even more horribly retrograde than Sanford herself, I thought more highly of this woman when she kept her mouth shut. (For the record, I've never thought highly of her husband, and his big mouth is his problem too.)