Let us presume that Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC) will indeed return to work today, safe and sound, fresh from a long hike along the Appalachian trial, and that the state government figures out why so much misinformation about the circumstances surrounding his absence was spread. That still leaves us with the question: what's with this guy?
Number one: he's eccentric. He's especially eccentric about his schedule and his privacy. He has apparently checked out in this way before, particularly after bruising battles. That's his way. That's sort of admirable, if you think about it. Very few of us have the resolve (or, to be sure, the economic latitude), to schedule a few days of complete downtime after a really tough week at the office. We don't value our free time; we don't wind down. Sanford does.
Number two: as the executive officer of a government, he has, in essence, a formal and probably legal responsibility to the people of his state to be in office at all times, and short of that, to find a way to responsibly and transparently and temporarily transfer power to a subordinate. That's a basic, and usually obvious, cost of seeking public office. Even if South Carolinians support his choice to check out, it is rather arrogant of him to presume that his executive authority is untethered to his interactions with other human beings.
Number three: he is private. He keeps his schedule to himself and often keeps key staff out of the loop. His wife is OK with that. It invites titillating speculation, even if there is no foundation for it. The speculation is beneath his dignity, but he is its direct cause.
Sanford was not popular among Republicans lawmakers in South Carolina when the year began. His bruising battle with the state legislators and courts over the federal stimulus package was just one of many significant political defeats. (The legislature overturned 10 vetoes on its final day in session.) It's understandable that he wants to get away from it all. But the people of South Carolina didn't elect him to take breaks or feel sorry for himself. They're not dictators of his time, either. But by disappearing without a trace, without a security detail, without a transfer of power plan (even to his hated LG), without any word of his whereabouts, he evinces a disrespect for South Carolinians, for everyone who works for him directly, and for every other government actor he interacts with.
It's great for journalists, though!
Would somebody remind me again why we CARE about Mark Sanford and South Carolina.
Oh, I know, he's a leading GOP candidate for President. But why?
His state ranks 45th in the nation in per capita income, according to the census bureau's prelim 08 figures, down from 44th in 07. SC has the second highest unemployment in the nation. It has a high poverty rate. Schools are crumbling.
And he continues to follow the no-tax, no-government policies that keep his state in this situation...despite repeated evidence that for the vast majority of his constitutents, this is a prescription for failure and destitution.
That he is even considered for president shows the press and others are failing to hold him accountable for these basic metrics. It's like hiring a the president of a bankrupt company to run your company.
Sigh.
The DNC is already jumping on Sanford's disappearance with this ad:
http://www.gotchamediablog.com/2009/06/new-dnc-ad-asks-wheres-sanford.html
I like to think that he and the fair Sarah of Alaska holed up in a fancy hotel in Atlanta all week and had hot monkey sex and smoked pot. Sadly, if it were true I'd like both of them more.
But actually, he may've gotten on an airplane in Atlanta:
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/report_sanford_seen_in_atlanta_airport.php
Did we mention his opposition to public education? He has drunk so deeply of the koolaid that he has been known to say that if there's a demand for education, the market will provide. And he recommended that the state universities go private, rather than the state increase their budgets.
In all seriousness, it's kinda cool the way the whacko Republicans are taking themselves out "one-by-one" (as they say on a cheesy CBS mini-series to which I'm addicted). Almost as soon as they hit the national spotlight, they crash and burn like those weird little moth-things that fly into my porchlight.