As the media learned earlier today, tonight was Eliot Spitzer‘s last night hosting his 8PM CNN show In the Arena, and in the final minutes of his program, Spitzer signed off with quite the apt quote from President Teddy Roosevelt: “the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena… who strives valiantly.”
Spitzer said little about his departure, other than acknowledging that today was his last day and reading the quote, which was quite apt– giving a nod to those that try while disparaging detractors:
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
The full Roosevelt speech here, for the curious.
As there were no final words about his own future, it is unclear what Spitzer is planning and whether that would include a future in cable news. If his final segments are any indication, however– a segment on the history of the Constitution and an interview with French journalist Bernard-Henri Levy– he seems to be little interested in the fare that makes for ratings bonanzas on cable news, but would fit right in at, say, PBS or C-SPAN. Of course that also presupposes Spitzer’s future is in television, which is a big assumption to make. For now, Spitzer has only said he is departing, but to where is anyone’s guess.
Spitzer’s goodbye via CNN below:
