Hmmmm. I have to mildly disagree with Crowley. Yes, Mark Sanford's impromptu 5-day mental health break to Buenos Aires shows him to be quite the cool, unpredictable, unconventional guy--which would be fine if he were Joe Shmoe. But he's not. He's the governor of South Carolina. And regardless of how his family feels about his decision to take off for another country, not simply without telling anyone but also having apparently told staff that he would be on the hoof somewhere along a 2,000-mile stretch of wilderness trail (meaning that if anything went awry that would be where they spent the first several days searching for him), it was an irresponsible breach of duty and a sign of poor judgment. He's the chief executive of a state, not Jack Kerouac or some questing man-child in a Judd Apatow comedy.
Of course, I don't believe for a minute that a sudden overpowering hankering for sun and surf is all there is to Sanford's little adventure. But even if that is all there is, the governor's still got some 'splaining to do to his voters.
--Michelle Cottle