Mark Sanford

This morning, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford said, "I wanted to do something exotic," to explain his unexplained sudden disappearance.

I guess you could call it "exotic."

What was Sanford thinking?

From CBS:

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, whose mysterious disappearance last Thursday prompted national headlines, acknowledged this afternoon that he had an extramarital affair.

"I've been unfaithful to my wife, and I developed a relationship with what started as a dear, dear friend from Argentina," he said, breaking down in tears. Sanford this morning returned from a trip to Buenos Aires, and he said he was "obviously not" alone there.

Sanford said he would resign as chair of the Republican Governor's Association.

Asked if he was separated from his wife, "I guess in a formal sense we're not." He said he and his wife were trying to "work through" the situation, and that his wife has known about the affair for about five months.

"I've let down a lot of people," he added. "That's the bottom line."

Sanford's office initially explained Sanford's disappearance from the state by saying the governor was hiking on the Appalachian Trail.

...He asked this afternoon for a "zone of privacy," if not for himself than for his family.

A "zone of privacy"?

Certainly, Sanford's family deserves privacy and to be spared being hounded by the media.

However, Sanford shouldn't get a "zone of privacy." He's the governor.

The problem here is that Sanford disappeared and supposedly cut off communication. He left the country.

A governor of a state doesn't have the luxury of being so incredibly selfish and thoughtless. He abandoned his post. He doesn't get to "spend the last five days crying in Argentina" without informing people where he was.

That, I think, was Sanford's fatal mistake. He was derelict in his duty as governor. It was more than just a personal matter.

His "exotic" romp was a serious lapse in judgment. His unexplained absence had implications for the governing of South Carolina. That's what is inexcusable. He dragged his personal failing into the public arena when he disappeared. That was his choice.



More, from the Associated Press.