The Good Wife

The Good Wife is my guilty pleasure. It's not the best show that was ever written and I certainly don't wait for each episode on baited breath, but I think it explores some very interesting social issues.
What does the modern "good wife" role entail? Where does the line between self and the couple exist and is it moveable? Is it more moveable when you are not in a political position?
I love Michelle Obama, but I have often wondered how she has felt about taking a back seat to her husband. Is it a fair trade? Is she really happy? Does she have regrets?
More and more if I were to cast a role that I would say a military spouse plays, it would be a politician's wife. Yes, the military is supposed to be apolitical, but Aristotle concluded that "man is a political animal", which basically was his assessment that people are social animals and as a result every social interaction is in essence political. We all seek to put ourselves ahead in the world.  Military spouses have always had a subtle politics, which most complain about, where some spouses act as if they wear the rank of their service member.  There is some institutionalization of this, because the CO's and XO's wives are tasked with managing the FRGs and there have been a couple notable examples where that has very publicly gone bad. In addition to this I would argue that however illegal it may be spouses' actions can effect the service member's promotion. I am not saying a good sailor (or insert branch) can't make rank without his/her spouse playing ball, but I think the average sailor can be sincerely benefited by a spouse who gets his/her name known in the right circles in a positive way. I think the pressure for wives to volunteer in part stems from this (not that I am criticizing volunteering, just pressuring people to do it e.g. voluntelling).
But the biggest way military spouses play a political role is really in straight out politics. This war has pushed many spouses into a political role, because we were often the only ones, besides those serving directly, who really understood what the personal costs of this war have been and are on our families and our service members. I think the Military Spouse of the Year award is an expression of the political activism that we have had to take on. Lori Bell represents all of us when she goes on NBC's nightly news and informs America what our lives are really like.
Don't get me wrong. There are a lot of differences between a politician's wife and a military spouse. For example, I can go to the grocery in the middle of the night to grab some Ben and Jerry's in my PJs and there is no news organization that will report it.  I will argue that I think, at least in the portrayal on TV, and in what Fleet and Family services advocate, military spouses are asked to be "The Good Wife" and so each week I explore whether it is possible to truly be oneself while in the good wife role, while I watch Alecia Florek struggle through trying to figure out the same question.