The experience of John Whitehead, former head of Goldman Sachs (GS), illustrates Spitzer’s aggressive tactics in attacking outstanding leaders. Two years ago, Whitehead wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal in which he criticized Spitzer for accusing Hank Greenberg (BusinessWeek.com, 03/10/08), then chairman and CEO of AIG (AIG), of being a crook and not bringing charges against Greenberg. According to Whitehead, Spitzer told him that afternoon: "You and I are now at war. You shot the first bullet, but I will shoot the last one. You will regret that you ever wrote that article. I am coming after you."
But the part of this story that got me writing was the initial apology, to which I would add the second one resigning. Eliot Spitzer has been a "john" apparently for years. Throughout his Attorney General tenure, throughout his governorship. He apparently made his own arrangements, moving the money carefully to avoid detection. If I understood the story correctly, his testimony in Washington in February was something he set up, suggesting that he orchestrated a reason to go to Washington in order to have his tryst with the now notorious Kristen. Periodic trips to meet with call girls was Eliot Spitzer’s life, not something recent or something in reaction to something. It was just what he did.
He found out he was busted on Friday, a week ago. After a trip to Washington to some kind of function on Saturday, he came home and told people on Sunday. Apparently, he softpedalled the truth, because his wife and others thought he could weather the crisis. But as the facts became increasingly clear, no one thought he had a chance of surviving politically. So on Wednesday, he resigned.
In both his apologies, he talked about being sorry, of atoning, of regaining the trust of his family. Had Eliot Spitzer not been caught, he had a credit with the EmperorVIP prostitution group which he would have undoubtedly cashed in on his next opportunity to travel out of town. All of his talk of atonement, and of regaining trust, and of doing good works that came rolling out of his mouth literally within hours of his exposure couldn’t possibly be genuine or heartfelt. Eliot Spitzer is a trivial man. His methodology as a Prosecutor, as a Governor, and as a husband were all suffused with moral lapses – more like moral absences. He simply says what he needs to say to get what he wants. I would expect that wife Silda has been living for twenty years with a man she doesn’t even know in more ways than the obvious, a man whose "false self" covers a "child." Sounds like those dinner presentations to Daddy created someone who could perform on demand, without really ever connecting – what’s called a "pseudoadult."
… What I’m trying to understand is why a woman like Silda Wall Spitzer would subject herself to such searing public scrutiny – and, by her presence, make what could only be seen as a statement of unconditional support – at a time when a part of her must have wanted to wring her husband’s neck. By all accounts, she’s as smart and accomplished as her husband. A fellow Harvard Law graduate, she worked as a high-powered corporate attorney before giving up her career so that Spitzer could make his first run for state attorney general.
Standing next to him at those two appearances this week, she looked as if she was in shock. The strain of crisis is always painfully visible on the spouse’s face in these I-have-sinned news conferences. The intent may be to minimize the infidelity by showing that the wife is still there, that she continues to play her public role, that she still believes in her husband. But the effect is the opposite. You look at her lifeless eyes and her expressionless mouth, and you think: Look what he’s done to that poor woman. According to various public accounts, hers was the loudest voice in Spitzer’s inner circle urging him not to resign. It would be understandable if she drew a distinction between her husband’s public and private conduct, as Hillary Clinton certainly did. It must have been galling to see how gleeful her husband’s political enemies were at his comeuppance, and perhaps she felt determined not to let "them" bring him down.
But, of course, Eliot Spitzer brought himself down. No one deserves the kind of public humiliation that Silda Wall Spitzer had to endure. The governor says he wants to regain his family’s trust and respect. He should have begun that process by facing the cameras alone …
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