Maria: "I want him home"

A central aspect of my view of politics is that there are no accidents. There are strategic blunders and tactical retreats, to be sure, but I suspect that there is nothing inadvertent or un-calculated about the way that politicians and their families speak to the press.

It's in that light that I noticed a couple of blips related to Maria Shriver's language about her husband's political career.

Granted, this is one rung above sheer gossip-mongering, but since bloggers aren't real journalists anyway I thought I'd post this excerpt and share some thoughts:

Shriver wants Schwarzenegger "back home"

(AP) California First Lady Maria Shriver said Friday that having her husband serving as governor was hard on their family and that she would prefer to see Arnold Schwarzenegger "back home" instead of run for president.
"While I was always raised to believe that public service is the most noble calling, it's all-encompassing," Shriver said on "The Oprah Winfrey Show. "And it's tough, if you have young children. And it's a 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week job. I want him home."
Appearing on the show alongside her mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Shriver repeated several times that if she had her way, Schwarzenegger would devote more time to his family life and less to his public life....
Shriver's comments raised questions about whether she is encouraging her husband not to seek re-election next year. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, has opened an account to raise campaign funds, but he does not have to formally decide for several months.

So, let's look at this in light of the fact that the Governator has had a bad, bad week: His pension privatization scheme sparked some the largest protests on a state issue that I've seen up close in my own adult lifetime. A few days after the largest of these protests, he backed down on the issue altogether -- a clear defeat on a central policy stand. And for the first time since his rise to power in the 2003 recall, his approval rating has dipped below 50%.

I don't really think things happen this way, but just fantasizing for the moment: Is it possible that Maria is laying groundwork for her husband to withdraw in advance of the 2006 election, citing concerns about family as a major justification? Or is it just the unalloyed opinion of a wife who misses her husband, speaking off the cuff to her good friend Oprah? I mean, it's not like Maria's from a big political family or anything.

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Maria: "I want him home"

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