Secret Agent Man

Mark Sanford's political career may have about four months left in it: an impeachment push has gained support among South Carolina legislators in the wake of both Sanford's Argentinian scandal and Associated Press reports that he abused the state's airplane and travel funds on a few occasions. The legislature comes back in January.

At The Daily Beast, Will Cathcart talks to Sanford about where he is now and what the future holds. Sanford uses spy terminology to explain:

"I'm a wounded soldier; I took myself off the battlefield," he says. "It's not until you lose something in life that you appreciate some of your blessings. If I ever had the chance to get back on the playing field, it would be a great honor and a privilege and a blessing."

"You know," the South Carolina governor continues, "everybody is assigned their own secret-agent mission in life. And at times the tricky part, the hard part, is finding out what that secret-agent mission is. Some of us do it early, some of us do it later in life." Simply put, nobody else in the Palmetto State's political class talks like that.

For a governor whose every move was scrutinized by local and political press following his scandal, the clandestine services metaphor isn't a bad one. If Sanford makes a difference in South Carolina policy before his time as governor is up, it would likely be behind the scenes, and it would certainly fly under the radar of existing narratives about him.

As far as his efforts to stay afloat, Sanford tells Cathcart that he's "going to speak to anybody in the General Assembly that I can, and of even greater note, I'm gonna be speaking to regular working South Carolinians when I get the chance"--and that seems to encompass his strategy.

Another salient point emerges from Cathcart's interview: Sanford feels liberated. Speculation that he'd run for president in 2012 clouded some impressions of his moves--like trying to reject stimulus money--but now, that's clearly off the table. He views now as a good time to talk policy.

Insofar as his fate is sealed, political life is easier for Sanford now. It would be tempting to float along and let it come to an end, to eschew the glad-handing necessary to stay alive, which may not even keep him in the governor's office anyway--to let things play out. And maybe that's what Sanford will do. But apparently he doesn't see it that way, for now--he sees it as a secret-agent mission.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2009/09/secret-agent-man/24659/