Middle East and North Africa: Client Number Nine  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Eliot Spitzer's fall from grace grabbed the headlines as soon as newsmen caught wind of the scandal. Bloggers followed closely on their heel, including those from the Middle East and North Africa, whose attention was turned to the humiliation his wife must have suffered from and indignation of having her to stand by him as he announced his resignation.
Yemen:
Yemeni Omar Barsawad is outraged at the indignity suffered by Spitzer's wife and family. He writes:
For a man who espoused high morals and a man who seemed to have a solid and impeccable integrity; for a politician who rose on a sword of righteousness and who went after official corruption and malfeasance with a vengeance, Eliot Spitzer has not only fallen, but made a big fool of himself. And enormously betrayed his wife and children. I fail to understand how American politicians have no consideration at all for their spouses; Spitzer could at least have spared his wife the public humiliation of dragging her to stand by him when he announced his resignation.
For a married man to fall in love with another woman or be swayed by the charms of another woman – I can understand. But for a married man – especially in Spitzer's position – to seek the services of a prostitute, and several times, I utterly fail to comprehend. I never knew there were such grotesquely expensive prostitutes! America is truly a land of extremes and excesses.
Barsawad further explains:
Of hypocrites, few can match Spitzer. He went along fooling every one that he was special and is no common American politician. In the end, he has made a big fool and a buffoon of himself. Very unfortunately, he is married. And that's what I find most sad: his hurting his family so deeply and as terribly as he has done.
Palestine:
Al Falasteenyia too cannot hide her disgust with the way Mrs Spitzer was paraded by the side of her fallen husband. She also draws a parallel of how the situation would have been described had Spitzer been “someone” else. She writes:
“I don't know why she stood up with him on that platform.”
” i would not have done it.”
“Oh yea, I would be up there with him, alright, chocking him!”
…the conversation continued among these three women as I stood in the elevator with them. And then occur ed to me, had this happened at another time, in another place- if Spitzer's name was ‘different’, if his wife ‘looked different’, then the conversation would sound different.
I imagine it would sound something like this
“those poor women over there.”
“it's such an oppressive culture- the way they stand in the shadow of their husbands like that. “
“seriously. if only they could come here and see the way we live- how liberated we are.”
Though many do not agree with Silda Spitzer and criticize her for standing with her husband, no one has said that she is oppressed. I'm not saying she is- I am simply questioning the use of the word here. It's funny how easily people label other people in other places as oppressed; as if oppression (of any form) does not exist in the US.
Israel:
From Israel, Sharvul too can't understand why Mrs Spitzer was seen besides her husband.
I watched a few seconds of the press conference at which Eliot Spitzer resigned. There's something I don't understand: why was his wife there, besides him? Given the circumstances, wouldn't she have preferred to stay home? What is it with politicians insisting that their wives be there in this moment of public humiliation? After all, it's not like there are any doubts and she's standing there to show support for some baseless accusations, right? I can't figure it out.
Saudi Arabia:
And last but not least, Dotsson, who lives in Saudi Arabia, turns his attention to the 22-year-old prostitute Eliot Spitzer was caught with. He adds:
Ashley has a MySpace profile and several pictures that I've already uploaded to a safe place in case she decides to make her profile private…Not bad. Not bad at all. Ashley beats Bill Clinton's Monica Lewinsky but I'm not convinced she is worth $4,300 an hour. I see a book deal in Ashley's future and hopefully a couple of poses for Playboy.
* This article has been cross-posted in Voices without Votes.