Huma Abedin is in Charge of her Decisions*
The problem is not her, it's him.
Huma Abedin’s husband, New York City Mayoral Candidate Anthony D. Weiner is in the middle of a second media lashing, but Abedin should not be.
Weiner recently admitted in a press conference with his wife by his side that he exchanged more salacious text messages with additional women after being snarled up in a sexting Twitter scandal that cost him his seat in the House in 2011. Sydney Leathers, 23, has come forward as one of the women he sent sexually explicit messages to under the pseudonym “Carlos Danger.”
But despite all of this, Abedin stood by him, making her own remarks at the press conference on Tuesday night. "Anthony’s made some horrible mistakes, both before he resigned from Congress and after. But I do very strongly believe that that is between us and our marriage."
She appears to be a fiercely loyal woman who is ambitious when it comes to what she wants and a successful husband might be something she's checked off on her list.
Not too long ago, prominently in the 50s and June Cleaver 60s, women stood by their men without saying anything at all. Sacrificing themselves for their husbands' success. At pseudo-aristocratic schools, for example, women were mocked for playing the "waiting game" in college, to graduate or not graduate, as long as they were headed for matrimony. A top notch Art History education doesn't matter just as long as she has dinner on the table by 7 O’clock. A Wellesley College professor like the one played by Julia Roberts in Mona Lisa Smile might have said exactly what she did in the movie:
“The perfect likeness of a Wellesley graduate, Magna Cum Laude doing exactly what she was trained to do. Slide. A Rhodes scholar. I wonder is she reciting Chaucer while she presses her husband's shirts. Slide. Heh, now you physics major's can calculate the mass and volume of every meat loaf you ever make. Slide. A girdle to set you free! What does that mean?... What does that mean?... What does it mean?”
Abedin is that Mona Lisa smile: A woman who has put her husband first before her career. A painful sacrifice? Yes. But hey, don't we all want our significant others to be successful?
It's also the “age old” traditional sacrifice that women have publicly shunned, but privately accepted; and then later on, endured those consequences. Especially a politicial wife.
Putting it simply, we all make some sacrifice or take what others might say is a foolish step for love. Brilliant women of the 50s stay at home with pots and pans; and in our time, Carrie Bradshaw's play for Mr. Big in Sex and the City made her seem foolish in some viewers’ eyes (secretly, don't we wish more men would do foolish stuff for us).
Instead politician’s wives, like Abiden, hear about the “mistakes” they’ve made from their woman peers that end up plastered in headlines like, "The Public Humiliation of Huma Abiden” and “The good wife? Oh, give us a break!” to name a few. It is completely unnecessary commentary. Seriously.
This agitated energy is again lost in a prosecution storm to publicly embarrass her even more for drawing a line in the sand. Yet, it seems to infuriate pundits. Lisa Bloom of CNN/HLN wrote,
“Isn't it time to call the spectacle of the suffering political wife, standing by her man in the media glare as he admits to his latest sexual offense against her, what it really is: spousal abuse?" ... "We have the right to say that we will not enable this anymore; we will not endorse it; we will not bless it just because it is her 'choice'."
The so-called media prosecution should aim itself at Weiner. And help voters figure out whether or not he is fit to run for office regardless of whether or not he's received public calls by actors (Alec Baldwin), rivals (NYC mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio) and media (the New York Times editorial board) to step down.
In her remarks, Abiden said it's been a few years since the first scandal and through “a lot” of therapy they have learned something. Not all women would have made Abiden’s decision to stand beside their men, but in 2013, exposure of these sexting, prostitutioning or canoodling scandals have forced political wives to be more present and more public than they want to be.
Today, Americans are in the ripe newness of successful watchdog adulterous political failures and it's carving out a new niche for commentary, not for going after the politicians, but instead after their spouses.
Since it's no longer 1950-something, just let women make their own personal choices and not get so "pundit-fied" about it.
What do you think?
*Photos by NPR.org and NYPost.com
Huma Abedin’s husband, New York City Mayoral Candidate Anthony D. Weiner is in the middle of a second media lashing, but Abedin should not be.
Weiner recently admitted in a press conference with his wife by his side that he exchanged more salacious text messages with additional women after being snarled up in a sexting Twitter scandal that cost him his seat in the House in 2011. Sydney Leathers, 23, has come forward as one of the women he sent sexually explicit messages to under the pseudonym “Carlos Danger.”
But despite all of this, Abedin stood by him, making her own remarks at the press conference on Tuesday night. "Anthony’s made some horrible mistakes, both before he resigned from Congress and after. But I do very strongly believe that that is between us and our marriage."
She appears to be a fiercely loyal woman who is ambitious when it comes to what she wants and a successful husband might be something she's checked off on her list.
Not too long ago, prominently in the 50s and June Cleaver 60s, women stood by their men without saying anything at all. Sacrificing themselves for their husbands' success. At pseudo-aristocratic schools, for example, women were mocked for playing the "waiting game" in college, to graduate or not graduate, as long as they were headed for matrimony. A top notch Art History education doesn't matter just as long as she has dinner on the table by 7 O’clock. A Wellesley College professor like the one played by Julia Roberts in Mona Lisa Smile might have said exactly what she did in the movie:
“The perfect likeness of a Wellesley graduate, Magna Cum Laude doing exactly what she was trained to do. Slide. A Rhodes scholar. I wonder is she reciting Chaucer while she presses her husband's shirts. Slide. Heh, now you physics major's can calculate the mass and volume of every meat loaf you ever make. Slide. A girdle to set you free! What does that mean?... What does that mean?... What does it mean?”
Abedin is that Mona Lisa smile: A woman who has put her husband first before her career. A painful sacrifice? Yes. But hey, don't we all want our significant others to be successful?
It's also the “age old” traditional sacrifice that women have publicly shunned, but privately accepted; and then later on, endured those consequences. Especially a politicial wife.
Putting it simply, we all make some sacrifice or take what others might say is a foolish step for love. Brilliant women of the 50s stay at home with pots and pans; and in our time, Carrie Bradshaw's play for Mr. Big in Sex and the City made her seem foolish in some viewers’ eyes (secretly, don't we wish more men would do foolish stuff for us).
Instead politician’s wives, like Abiden, hear about the “mistakes” they’ve made from their woman peers that end up plastered in headlines like, "The Public Humiliation of Huma Abiden” and “The good wife? Oh, give us a break!” to name a few. It is completely unnecessary commentary. Seriously.This agitated energy is again lost in a prosecution storm to publicly embarrass her even more for drawing a line in the sand. Yet, it seems to infuriate pundits. Lisa Bloom of CNN/HLN wrote,
“Isn't it time to call the spectacle of the suffering political wife, standing by her man in the media glare as he admits to his latest sexual offense against her, what it really is: spousal abuse?" ... "We have the right to say that we will not enable this anymore; we will not endorse it; we will not bless it just because it is her 'choice'."
The so-called media prosecution should aim itself at Weiner. And help voters figure out whether or not he is fit to run for office regardless of whether or not he's received public calls by actors (Alec Baldwin), rivals (NYC mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio) and media (the New York Times editorial board) to step down.
In her remarks, Abiden said it's been a few years since the first scandal and through “a lot” of therapy they have learned something. Not all women would have made Abiden’s decision to stand beside their men, but in 2013, exposure of these sexting, prostitutioning or canoodling scandals have forced political wives to be more present and more public than they want to be.
Today, Americans are in the ripe newness of successful watchdog adulterous political failures and it's carving out a new niche for commentary, not for going after the politicians, but instead after their spouses.
Since it's no longer 1950-something, just let women make their own personal choices and not get so "pundit-fied" about it.
What do you think?
*Photos by NPR.org and NYPost.com
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