This week on As South Carolina Turns…

How do you solve a problem like Maria?

Governor Mark Sanford calls his former (current?) Argentinian gal-pal Maria his “soulmate” but still insists he is “trying to fall in love with his wife again”. Doesn’t sound like a guy who is ready to move on and forget his past relationships. But what do I know? I’m not a marriage counselor or anything. There’s no way he saves himself by continuing those truth-serum injections, and at some point (if we are not there already) it becomes too much to absorb by the voters and citizens of this state. As I’ve previously said, politicians have extramarital affairs. It happens quite often. It happens to average people every day from the most innocent of circumstances, just the way Governor Sanford’s affair started. But this is only partially about the affair.

I still think he should resign. Not for the affair, but for his behavior before and after this affair was revealed. South Carolina isn’t like other states, in that we are one of the reddest red states still standing after President Obama’s election. This is probably one of the places left in the US where the voters would actually care about the affair as well as Sanford’s recent reckless behavior. His refusal to resign could end up costing Republicans the governor’s mansion in 2010. We could have a Democrat governor next election – in South Carolina! Hard to say what kind of Democrat could beat some otherwise strong Republican candidates, but given the right environment, it could happen. It’s time for Sanford to stop being selfish and consider the consequences of his actions to the state Republican party before he totally commits to staying on as governor.

Here’s my advice: Just shut up, Governor. Stop talking to the media. Let the investigations go forward. If you aren’t really committed to saving your marriage, then maybe you should be honest with your wife about that. If you are sincere, then you might want to act more concerned about your wife than you are about your job. It’s obvious you have created your own obstacles to staying in the Governor’s mansion for the remainder of your term. And BTW, it’s awfully convenient of you to be concerned about these things now, when it’s clear that you didn’t care much about your job and your marriage when you took all those risks and cheated on your wife. Self-sabotage? That’s for the politicos to debate. All I know is that you did a very stupid thing and you don’t seem to be sorry enough to change.