Gov. Sanford's long weekend

The humorous notion of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford trekking through the woods naked has been replaced by the sad reality of a man cheating on his family. To his discredit, Mr. Sanford has had an extramarital affair for about a year, he said today. To his credit, he stood in front of the world and came clean to his constituents (his wife already knew about the affair), admitted guilt, begged for forgiveness in time — and then took questions.

That is all between Mr. Sanford and his family, and then between he and South Carolinians. Today I only wish to reaffirm what I've said previously about the governor leaving the office and turning off his phone for a time: Mr. Sanford flew clear out of the hemisphere, and nobody even got their eye put out.

There is a clear difference between the political class of Americans and the normal class of Americans, and it was demonstrated in coverage of the governor's absence. Sanford's political opponents (in both parties), his state's separately elected lieutenant governor, media members, cable news contributors (including Mike Huckabee, who is largely sympathetic to many of Sanford's causes) and other members of the political/ruling class denounced the governor in near unanimous fashion for leaving the state and calling his office only infrequently.

"There has to be a line of command," insisted Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, discussing his appall at Sanford's temporary hiatus.

What Mr. Bauer ought to know is that the line of command is quite clear: In the governor's absence, the lieutenant governor has authority to act during emergencies. Had the earth quaked and a giant fissure opened in the middle of Charleston, Mr. Bauer would have had legal authority to call up the National Guard and state police to assist, and to request federal aid from Washington.

Furthermore, if we examine the fears put forth by Mr. Sanford's critics, the end result is pretty clear. Suppose, in Mr. Sanford's absence, the earth quaked mightily and opened a giant fissure in Charleston. Even if the succession provision were absent from the state's constitution, Mr. Bauer would still call the National Guard, and the National Guard would still listen (unless both he and the guard's commander are indefensibly stupid).

The indignation from Sanford's opponents was rife, but South Carolinians seemed less so. For all the coverage of Sanford's time away, I have found only one comment from a constituent. It was in the Wall Street Journal, from a retired woman named Sarah Porter. She was strikingly unconcerned that Mr. Sanford was not there to hold her hand.

"Maybe he just wanted to be alone," she said. (She was guessing wrong, but her tone is of an entirely different chord from that by those in government.)

Bauer, the lieutenant governor, says : "Not to be able to get in touch with a person who is responsible for 4.5 million people is a concern."

Porter, the normal human being, knows that there are 4.5 million people in South Carolina and almost all of them know how to be responsible for themselves.