Jenny and Dr. Phil

So what's the story. This is purely conjecture, of course.

First of all, it is clear that Jenny is the brains of the gang.

You can envision a conversation, laying on a college lawn somewhere, with Mark Sanford. Sanford, Mr. Congenial Frat Boy with a political pedigree, Jenny, the brains of the gang, perfectly willing to ride her famous husband's coat tails up to the Presidency, and if not that, as high as possible...


So they go to work, Jenny leaves her job as VP of a Virginia law firm, and becomes Sanford's wife/advisor. She pops out the requisite kids (five, so as to impress the right to lifers) she looks good in the photo ops, and behind the scenes she is the chief of staff, and everything else as he gets his career off the ground, first in the US congress, then as governor. As a Republican from a southern state, he touches all of the requisite bases, goes to the prayer meetings and everything else he needs to do to tap into the resources of the Bob Jones set.....

The rest of the story is pretty well known. Sanford takes a boondoggle trip to Argentina, and falls for a local TV reporter, they begin the affair, he takes off in the middle of everything last summer, disappears, and later admits the whole thing, giving Jon Stewart more opportunities.

Since then Jenny dumps him, both are now dating, he has recently had another meeting with her in Key West.....

So what happened?

Is it not clear that those two formed an alliance, early in their lives which satisfied the needs of both? Mark needed a strong partner/brains, and she needed a way to catapult into a position of power. The model for this type of relationship is Bill and Hillary, and it is clear of course that exactly the same outcome happened......

But what Mark needed when he was a young man was quite different from what he needed as a middle aged man. He needed someone to laugh and play with, to admire him, to tell him he was sexy. Possibly someone just a bit less intense. Someone who would giggle at his jokes. Was Jenny going to do that? My guess is, just looking at her interview, was that she was pretty intense. Just speculation, but you can see a situation where he could have even been infantilized: She is used to bossing around those five boys, Sanford was the sixth. Probably ticked him off......

So, when he got the opportunity, he took it.

Now, was that fair to Jenny? First of all, she is bright, and the fame caused by this incident has launched her into a potential career of her own..... She bought into the strategy, knowing in her heart that particularly as a Republican it is potentially easier to get into a position of power in this way rather than shake hands at barbecues for decades like a man would have to. So, it was 95 percent calculating..

Chances are Mark, being congenial, was hesitant to have the heart to heart talk that they needed to have to fix the problem. Not much time for intimacy if you are a governor.

As to what Sanford actually did, run off to see the chick in Argentina, this was spectacularly stupid. He'd have been much better off trying to find a local trusted partner, could have kept the whole thing under wraps better, and would have been much better off. Possibly Jenny would have let the whole thing go on, a la Hillary, if it was potentially helpful to their joint careers....

So that's the story. What was a successful partnership early in their careers had gaps, Mark was not getting what he needed at home, and the rest, as they say, is for Dr. Phil to figure out.