But here's the thing the show doesn't dare tackle: the huge domestic that would have ensued that night. While she might have won the most powerful office on Earth and the right to run it without hubby looking over her shoulder, she would have lost big points for moral superiority within her marriage.

Relationship one-upmanship is a delicate but necessary part of the daily struggle of staying together. Whoever attains the upper hand in terms of self-righteousness usually gets to call the shots. So while the president might have the absolute right to appoint her chosen staff, she's still going to cop the guilty treatment when she gets home. And she's not going to regain the upper hand until he does something bad or dumb, or both. Such as run over one of the kids or blow out the credit card.

Imagine being in the Heath Ledger/Michelle Williams home the night before the Oscars. Both nominated, both worrying about acceptance speeches, and both on tenterhooks in case one gets up and the other doesn't. Wouldn't have made for easy conversation, would it?

I always wonder how elite athlete couples cope. I mean, what do you say when you come home with wreath on head and gold on chest and there's the other half, sobbing silently into a bottle of gin, muttering "tenth place ... I didn't even know there was a tenth place"? Can't very well tell him/her to get over it, go freshen up and come out to celebrate your own world record, can you?

Ponder how Nicole Kidman ever found the self-control required for her Oscar acceptance speech. There was a golden moment there when she could have turned to the camera, raised the little statue up high and, with wonderful poise, announced: "Suffer in your jocks, Tom."

Those who manage to act statesmanlike while rubbing someone's nose in something nasty can be deeply impressive. Like when Simone Warne emerged from the beautiful family home, blonde hair flowing, skin gleaming, followed by her three perfect little poppets and announced that estranged husband Shane was a deeply flawed human and he was out on his dopey ear. But she'd be kind to him anyway. It was a nice piece of work and I really, really hope she took away the rumoured $10 million settlement and even more besides. She's now a beloved B-grade celebrity and he's still a git who can throw a ball a bit.

Even the poor old Queen has had to juggle the right to say "Listen, sport, I'm in charge" with the pressing desire to keep the peace and therefore be seen to be the decent half of the royal couple. There she was, back in 1952, trying to get her dad buried and her constitutional duties sorted, and her first problem was finding a job for Phil. She made him Warden of Windsor, which in suburban Brisbane terms meant he was in charge of mowing the lawns. Still is.

And then there's Hillary Clinton, who for years slogged away earning the real money while Bill faffed around in the governor's mansion in Little Rock. When he became president, she was relegated to hanging around trying to find something useful to do. So she already had the marital upper hand because she was the self-sacrificing one. Then Bill went and threw himself upon half the female population of the US and thus she attained permanent possession of the moral high ground. And if she were actually to make her own run for the White House and succeed, she would have assumed complete victory within her marriage.