Posted by: McQ on Saturday, August 09, 2008 MichaelW talked about the Edwards admission yesterday at some length, but it remains fascinating to me for a number of reasons. First, suddenly the mainstream media decides it is a story worth reporting. For instance the NY Times: Former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina said Friday that he had an affair in 2006 with a woman who was not his wife. But he denied that he was the father of her baby, who was born in February, about a month after Mr. Edwards dropped out of the race for president.Remember it was the NY Times which published an unsubstantiated story about John McCain having an affair with a lobbyist earlier this year, but wouldn't touch this Edwards story until he admitted the affair. The other obvious reason it fascinates me is because, like almost all politicians, Edwards felt it was his job to lecture us on morality, his theme being the existence of "Two Americas" and how horrible we were for not recognizing that and doing what is necessary to make us all one America. Then we have the spectacle of his better half - and in terms of that particular couple, calling Elizabeth Edwards his better half is a very apt description - going on Daily Kos and telling everyone its our business and none of yours: This was our private matter, and I frankly wanted it to be private because as painful as it was I did not want to have to play it out on a public stage as well. Because of a recent string of hurtful and absurd lies in a tabloid publication, because of a picture falsely suggesting that John was spending time with a child it wrongly alleged he had fathered outside our marriage, our private matter could no longer be wholly private.But it is not wholly private because John Edwards is a public person in the truest sense of the word, and has now run for the presidency twice. Elizabeth Edwards knows this very well, and it trying to run a little "shame" gambit to head off further inquiry. But the shame resides completely with John Edwards, not anyone else. And, had he come clean in 2006, this would be over. Secondly, Ms. Edwards points to "absurd lies" in the tabloids. As I recall, essentially the same phraseology was used in 2006 when Edwards flat denied an affair. Thirdly I'd point out that even the NY Times gets it: Mr. Edwards, who no longer holds public office, said in a deeply personal statement that he had lied in previously denying the affair and that he was “ashamed” of his conduct. He said that “over the course of several campaigns, I started to believe that I was special and became increasingly egocentric and narcissistic.”Yes, the "absurd lies" of 2 years ago are now suddenly the truth in 2008. So pardon us if we don't buy into Ms. Edwards claims that what's out there about the child are lies just yet. The final point comes with those last underlined words. Both of them seem to be something that all politicians on a national level fall victim too, or at least a good portion of them. And it leads to decisions and actions which one can only describe as self-destructive in terms of their chosen profession. But in another form, other than sexual affairs, it could manifest itself in decisions and actions which could be harmful and destructive to the nation as a whole. That poses a real danger. Gary Hart, Bill Clinton and now John Edwards are textbook examples of this phenomenon. I realize that the three I name all ended up being linked to other women, but as I mention, there are other ways for this problem to manifest itself as well as worse outcomes to be imagined. And I can't help but relate those two words to what I see going on in the Obama camp right now. As I observe him each day, I see egotism and narcissism growing, nourished by adoring crowds and PR flaks who are working their hardest to make Obama an fantasy icon that voters will believe will some day in the future cure all the world's ills. The problem is, I also see indications that he's buying into that as well. If that's the case, it could be become both scary and dangerous should he win. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TrackBacks | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Return to Main Blog Page | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Comments For This Post | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Previous Comments to this Post |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Add Your Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| Vicious Capitalism |
Buy Dale's Book!
|
