Missing Governors

Much was made of the absence of South Carolina governor Mark Sanford over Father's Day weekend. While the Democrats and media tried to make political hay of it and the governor's mansion, including Sanford's wife, sought in turn to make nothing out of it, Sanford himself, ultimately, is the one who made it what it was--a wreck.

Just what we needed, another political sex scandal. Sadly, this time it was what looked to be a good guy involved in it instead of the usual miscreants. Looks can be deceiving, it appears. (chuckle)


One of the more interesting aspects of all this, in my view, was one of the whines that kept squeaking out while the Palmetto-in-chief was out on his alleged Appalachian jaunt. It was repeated several times in my hearing even after the governor had returned from what turned out to be a romp on the beach with a mistress. This whine was uttered by one particularly miffed caller to the Dennis Miller radio show in the following fashion: "How can a governor just leave his state like that without even leaving anyone in charge? What if a natural disaster or something had happened while he was gone?" To the caller's discredit, I don't even think he was a citizen of Sanford's state. At any rate, that particular sentiment had already been expressed enough to irritate me, then this guy came along and provoked me into the following rant . . .

(Here's what I wish I could have said to that guy)

Are you serious? How old are you, twelve? You can't get along in your life without a governor for a couple of days? Where did we get this dependency upon government to the point that we are actually afraid that something bad might happen and we won't have the governor around to save us? Is the governor your daddy? Protector and provider? Arch-nemesis of the boogie-man?

Here's what you do, junior, if a natural disaster happens while the governor isn't around . . . be responsible for yourself. Take care of yourself. Provide for yourself.

Handle it yourself.

Have we really reached the point where we get nervous if the governor of our state steps away for a few days? I bet there are a lot of people out there who ardently wish their governor would go awol. I can remember a time when Ann Richards was messing with Texas that I would have felt great relief to get up in the morning and read a news story saying that she had been missing for several days. An awol governor can't screw things up.

Say, I have an idea. How about someone convincing the unholy trinity of Pelosi, Reid, and Obama to go awol? God knows I would love to tell them to take a hike.