Boston Herald | Monday, July 29 2013 | Op-Ed |
Dear Huma:
You don’t know me, and you certainly have not asked for any advice. But you are a public figure: a former high-level aide to Hillary Clinton and now the wife of a New York City mayoral candidate. And whether you asked for it or not, advice you will get.
So, here it goes: Dump the perv.
That’s right, dump him.
Much as you try to convince yourself (or the public) otherwise, your husband, disgraced former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) (better known to his online paramours as “Carlos Danger”) is a creep. An honest to goodness sexual deviant.
Back in the days before the Internet, your husband might have been a common street flasher. But technology has made life so much easier — eliminating altogether the need for people like him to don a trench coat. Today, sexual exhibitionists enjoy the convenience of exposing their genitals without ever leaving their own homes! Now that’s what I call progress.
That you stayed with Anthony Weiner after the first round of online sexting became public in 2011 was sad, but understandable. You were pregnant. You wanted a father for your child. Your husband told you that he would change. And you believed him.
But he did not change. He never intended to.
Your husband acts now as if new revelations about his post-resignation sexcapades are old news.
“I have said that other texts and photos are likely to come out, and today they have,” Weiner said last week. “This behavior is behind me.”
Note the carefully chosen words: “behind me.” Not over. Just in the past. And, quite possibly, also in the future.
Face it, Huma. Your husband is a manipulative con man. A sociopath incapable of feeling true remorse or accepting blame.
In your heart of hearts, you know that this is true.
What did he tell you in 2011 when the story first broke? He said that his account was “hacked” and only admitted the truth when there was nowhere else to hide.
Even then, he failed to take real responsibility — telling The New York Times Magazine that he didn’t consider his behavior “all that serious” and insisting that his world came crashing down “because of one fateful tweet.” (As if his only mistake was one misdirected tweet and not a pattern of vile behavior that continues, perhaps, to this day.)
Huma, you and I both know that Anthony Weiner is not sorry for his online conduct. Yes, he is sorry that he got caught. And, yes, he is sorry that the revelations hurt you. But — amazingly — he does not really think that sexting women other than his wife and sending them pornographic pictures is improper.
So, as you stood there last week, doe-eyed, gazing lovingly at your husband, I could not help but wonder: How can you — a gorgeous, bright, successful woman — allow yourself to be treated like a doormat?
Are you suffering from Stockholm syndrome?
Or is something more Machiavellian at work? Could it be that you are simply too power hungry to let go? You are, after all, the protege of Hillary Clinton — the architect of the modern-day political marriage of convenience.
But this is 2013. You don’t need to bask in the power of a man. You were successful in your own right long before you fell for this slimeball.
My unsolicited advice? It’s time to cut the cord, Huma. Forget Hillary Clinton. Forget Anthony Weiner. Just take the baby and RUN!
###