The Governor and the Restless

Who doesn't like a good soap opera? Long a guilty pleasure for many people, soap operas provide a form of escapism. After all, nothing that happens in it is real and no one is actually hurt. Soap operas keep us on the edge of our seats with twist and turns. You never know what's going to happen next!

You know what my favorite soap opera is? The one that had the Governor who met a girl at a dance party in Uruguay and then had an affair with her. The twist is that it was no ordinary affair, the Governor had finally met the love of his life. He was conflicted, his political career would suffer if he came out publicly and divorced his wife so the Governor decided to keep it hidden by making secret trips to her homeland of Argentina to see her. The two star-crossed lovers knew that their affair shouldn't happen but they followed their hearts and found a way to let their blossoming love grow.

Of course as you all know, the above does not actually describe a soap opera but a reality for the people of South Carolina. The Governor mentioned is Mark Sanford and the events described actually happened. Of course, unlike an actual soap opera, people were actually hurt and Sanford's actions had consequences.

Sanford behaved incredibly irresponsibly in his quest to live a real life soap opera. He never ceded power to his Lt. Governor prior to leaving the country, he misled staffers into believing he was hiking the AT when he was actually in Argentina and he refused to respond to the attempts of his staffers to reach him. What if his staffers weren't just contacting him to check in? What if something major was happening in the state? Turning on the news wouldn't update him. After all, Governors probably deal with issues that we as citizens never find out about. Had an important issue gone unaddressed, it could have had dire consequences for South Carolina.

At times though, it seemed like Sanford was aware that all of this was unraveling like a bad soap opera storyline. He gave interviews calling his mistress the "love of his life" and said that he asked for permission to see her but was denied so he went to see her anyway. He said that he would try to fall back in love with his wife, a revelation that again sounds like something a character on "As The World Turns" would say and not the Governor of South Carolina. How do you "try" to fall back in love with someone?

Since Governor Sanford didn't actually break the law, impeachment efforts have proved futile and South Carolina Republicans have largely backed off any attempts to do so. South Carolina Democrats are still behind impeachment efforts but since Democrats in South Carolina are an endangered species, it really doesn't matter.

All we can do now is sit back and continue to watch "The Governor and the Restless."