The GEM Debate: Is Marriage A "Private" Matter?

The GEM Debate:
Is This Marriage A “Private” Matter?

By now, you’ve no doubt heard the tale of woe of former representative-turned-NYC-mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner. For those of you who don’t know, Weiner, who was forced to resign from Congress last year after a “sexting” scandal (read more here), was caught doing it again.

After retreating from public life, Weiner and his wife, Huma Abedin had a baby and, by all appearances, looked to be putting their marriage back together.

Until this week.

A website called TheDirty.com was contacted by a woman who claimed that, not only had she and Weiner been sexting back and forth, they were planning to meet up and more. These conversations took place AFTER Weiner got caught the first time and after he promised to clean up his act.

Honestly, there were a couple of things that struck me about Weiner’s mea culpa. First was his arrogance. He wasn’t apologizing to anyone as much as sort of saying, “Yeah I told you there could be more. More showed up. So what?” The other thing that struck me was how little interaction there was between Weiner and the woman he claimed to love but hurt so deeply.

But that’s not what today’s debate is about. At one point, Abedin steps to the microphone and gives a forceful statement about how she’s forgiven her husband and believes him. Then she said:

“Anthony’s made some horrible mistakes, both before he resigned from Congress and after. But I do very strongly believe that that is between us and OUR marriage.” (<—-Tweet this)

Or is it?

As someone who’s no stranger to life in the public eye (albeit not at that level), I know a little bit about how this game is played. You make appearances that are carefully orchestrated by PR teams, you give interviews for puff pieces that show your fun-loving nature, you take photos with your spouse and a soft lens, capturing the human side of you. See, that all works in your favor.

But in this world of new media, where everyone with a smart phone is a consumer as well as a producer, (<—Tweet this!)it’s a new game. And when you put dumb things in writing, well, need I go on?

I do believe marriage is between the two people involved, until they make it part of what they’re selling. Weiner used his marriage as a tool to flesh out a picture of himself (to say nothing of his wife); it’s one that we, the voters, know is not necessarily true. We also know he lied when he said he wouldn’t do it again, a bad trait in someone I’m interested in hiring.

So in this case, his marriage and his manner frankly, are up for public scrutiny.

That’s my take; what say you? Is assessment of their marriage off-limits or is it fair game? Take the poll and leave a comment!

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