An Affair to Remember08/12/2008
Now that John Edwards has admitted to his affair with 42-year-old Rielle Hunter, the big test looms again before the American public: Do we care? Do we think it matters? Do we believe that there should be any code of conduct or moral standard for those in public office, even if it is the highest one in the land?Justifications for political improprieties abound. There are historical ones: "Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, etc. had moral failures, so what's the big deal?" There are also personal ones: "We shouldn't judge. No one is perfect. Who are we to point fingers?"Don't misunderstand me. I believe in personal redemption. I myself have experienced it, as I wrote about in the chapter "A sin that became a blessing" in my autobiography, "Against All Odds," in which I discuss an adulterous one-night stand in the early '60s that resulted in my wonderful daughter Dina. That is why I hope, as he says, John Edwards truly has asked God and his wife for forgiveness, and I pray for their restoration and the long road that results from it.
But then again, John Edwards continues to minimize his culpability by playing linguistic and moral dodge ball. He lied to his closest colleagues and the public for nearly two years about the affair. And even in his confession last week, he doesn't call it a "lie," a "sin," an "affair" or "adultery." Rather, he repeatedly calls it merely a "mistake" or a "serious error in judgment." Is that all it is?
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1 comment:
Edwards has demonstrated that he is unfit for higher office, but not just because he had a moral lapse, but because he is stupid (while thinking we're stupid), he's a massive hypocrite who doesn't believe rules apply to him. A man who will persist in cheating on his faithful, cancer ridden wife will sell out his country. A man so stupid as to believe that he won't get caught doesn't have the judgement to have his hands on national power.
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