It has been almost two decades since Hillary Rodham Clinton declared that she was not “some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette.” It was a striking moment: she was saying that she was not reflexively standing by her man, as previous generations had, but she was standing by him nevertheless.

Her proactive loyalty in 1992 was credited with rescuing Gov. Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign after he admitted “causing pain” in his marriage.

Nevertheless, for years afterward, a parade of political wives stood dutifully by their errant husbands when they acknowledged their misdeeds. They hardly uttered a peep, understanding that they were props in a drama scripted by the exigencies of politics. Not to be there would have been unthinkable; to have to speak would have been unbearable.