Photo via Flickr user Misternaxal.When it comes to Mark and Jenny Sanford the answer seems to be: not a whole lot. I agree with Josh Marshall, who wrote to the embattled South Carolina governor: "Just go be with her," referring to Sanford's Argentine lover. Yes! Though I hope that first, he repairs his relationship with his kids through lots of one-on-one, father-son time.Mark Sanford told the AP his relationship with Maria Belen Chapur was "a great love affair." On his way to visit her in Buenos Aires, he thought to himself, "I will be able to die knowing that I had met my soul mate." Sure, he's claiming he wants to serve out his gubernatorial term. But his weepy, tell-all interviews are sending quite another message: that he's still passionately in love with Belen Chapur and perhaps just one step away from riding off into the sunset. Sanford even said he didn't regret the affair, though it has quashed his presidential hopes.Meanwhile, back home, Jenny Sanford, a former Wall Street executive who ably managed her husband's campaigns, said, "His career is no concern of mine." In her written statement, she said she kicked Mark out of the house because if she hadn't done so, she no longer would have been able to look her sons in the eye with her "dignity" in tact. In other words, it seems clear this couple doesn't want to be together. After his recent affair and a string of other, less serious dalliances, Mark Sanford says he is "trying" to "fall back in love" with his wife. Ouch. Quoting the Bible and talking about forgiveness, it seems clear both the Sanfords, for the sake of their once-shared political ambitions, are trying to craft a salvation narrative that will appeal to their Christian conservative base, in which the governor comes to terms with his sins and and is reborn as a faithful, God-fearing family man. But it also seems clear that a continued Sanford marriage will look, to most of the world, like a total sham. I wouldn't want to be one of their four sons, living in a house with these two after all this has gone down. In fact, so much damage has already been done to those kids that divorce might come as a relief to them. After all, kids often know, better than anyone else, when there's something hopelessly wrong in their parents' marriage.I hope this entire family is able to move on. Separation and divorce might be part of that. But so far, that possible outcome seems almost taboo to talk about.--Dana Goldstein WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?
Photo via Flickr user Misternaxal.When it comes to Mark and Jenny Sanford the answer seems to be: not a whole lot. I agree with Josh Marshall, who wrote to the embattled South Carolina governor: "Just go be with her," referring to Sanford's Argentine lover. Yes! Though I hope that first, he repairs his relationship with his kids through lots of one-on-one, father-son time.Mark Sanford told the AP his relationship with Maria Belen Chapur was "a great love affair." On his way to visit her in Buenos Aires, he thought to himself, "I will be able to die knowing that I had met my soul mate." Sure, he's claiming he wants to serve out his gubernatorial term. But his weepy, tell-all interviews are sending quite another message: that he's still passionately in love with Belen Chapur and perhaps just one step away from riding off into the sunset. Sanford even said he didn't regret the affair, though it has quashed his presidential hopes.Meanwhile, back home, Jenny Sanford, a former Wall Street executive who ably managed her husband's campaigns, said, "His career is no concern of mine." In her written statement, she said she kicked Mark out of the house because if she hadn't done so, she no longer would have been able to look her sons in the eye with her "dignity" in tact. In other words, it seems clear this couple doesn't want to be together. After his recent affair and a string of other, less serious dalliances, Mark Sanford says he is "trying" to "fall back in love" with his wife. Ouch. Quoting the Bible and talking about forgiveness, it seems clear both the Sanfords, for the sake of their once-shared political ambitions, are trying to craft a salvation narrative that will appeal to their Christian conservative base, in which the governor comes to terms with his sins and and is reborn as a faithful, God-fearing family man. But it also seems clear that a continued Sanford marriage will look, to most of the world, like a total sham. I wouldn't want to be one of their four sons, living in a house with these two after all this has gone down. In fact, so much damage has already been done to those kids that divorce might come as a relief to them. After all, kids often know, better than anyone else, when there's something hopelessly wrong in their parents' marriage.I hope this entire family is able to move on. Separation and divorce might be part of that. But so far, that possible outcome seems almost taboo to talk about.--Dana Goldstein 
