Huma Abedin puts herself on the line for Weiner’ s mayoral bid

For decades, the wives of politicians have
stood silently beside them as they held
press conference in the midst of scandals.
But on Tuesday night, Huma Abedin , the
wife of Anthony Weiner, did something
extraordinary: she spoke, at some length.
Abedin, who confessed at the start of her
remarks she was “a little nervous,”
delivered a personal and poignant defense
of her husband, who resigned his House
seat two years ago after admitting he
had sent lewd tweets to young women.
Now, as he seeks to become New York’s
mayor, he was forced to acknowledge he
continued to engage in online sex chats
with a 22 year-old woman last year even
after that behavior had forced him from
office.
"Anthony's made some horrible mistakes,
both before he resigned from Congress
and after, but I do truly believe that that
is between us and our marriage," Abedin
said. "I love him, I have forgiven him, I
believe him, and as we have said from
the beginning, we are moving forward."
Her decision to speak before the cameras
about her husband represented Weiner’s
best (and really only) chance at somehow
surviving this latest set of revelations.
Abedin prevented the hastily-called press
conference from devolving into a media
feeding frenzy, in which a politician
seeking to make a comeback would be
pelted with harsh questions from the
press.
(Compare this press conference to one in
2011 in which the late Andrew
Breitbart hopped on stage and spoke at
length and even when Weiner did get to
the microphone he was repeatedly
heckled by people in the crowd.)
But it may not be enough to help him win
the primary against New York City
Council chair Christine Quinn, and it
raises a critical question: in a situation
like this, does it matter what a disgraced
politician’s spouse thinks?
During her brief remarks Abedin
repeatedly framed Weiner’s behavior as a
personal matter, saying the situation was
”between us and our marriage,” and that
”It was not an easy choice in any way,
but I made the decision that it was worth
staying in this marriage. That was a
decision I made for me, for our son, and
for our family.”
It was a stark reminder of how hard it is
to understand another couple’s marriage
— whether a political family or not — as
an outside observer. Unlike both Hillary
Rodham Clinton and former Sen. Gary
Hart’s (D-Colo.) wife Lee , who initially
defended their husbands as innocent
when charges of infidelity surfaced,
Abedin did not pretend her husband was
unblemished.
“Our marriage, like many others has had
its ups and its downs,” Abedin said. “It
took a lot of work and whole lot of
therapy to get to a place where I could
forgive Anthony.”
But the message she delivered Tuesday
was largely the same as political spouses
before her: if she could forgive him for
his misdeeds, the voters could too. Abedin
did not make the case for why Weiner
was best positioned to lead New York, and
even if she made that case, it’s unclear
whether voters would buy it.
Weiner made an explicit link between his
wife’s decision to stay with him and his
current political quest, saying: “I am
pleased and blessed she decided to give me
a second chance,” and adding he was now
“asking New Yorkers to give me a second
chance.”
But it’s unclear whether Democrats,
whom before this latest incident had a
higher unfavorable than favorable view
of Weiner, will do that. A recent poll
from Siena College and the New York
Times showed him trailing Quinn 27
percent to 18 percent in the Democratic
primary.
In the end, voters must decide if Weiner
has the judgment and the skills to lead
the nation’s largest city. He and Abedin
have answered that question in their own
minds. But when it comes to New York
City’s electorate, the answer is far less
certain.