John Edwards: I don't want a saint. I want a politician.

planetc

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Sat Aug-09-08 03:25 PM
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John Edwards: I don't want a saint. I want a politician.

I am sixty-five years old. When I was born, Franklin Roosevelt was President. Dwight Eisenhower began his invasion of Europe when I was 1-1/2 years old. I was 20 when they shot John Kennedy. The first vote I cast was for Robert Kennedy for Senator of New York. Thereafter, I voted for a number of noble Democrats who always lost until I voted for Bill Clinton, who won.

Now, this is what I know of John Edwards: he was born to a poor family. He nevertheless made his way through college and law school. To do that, you need brains and a capacity for hard work. He then embarked on a career that made him a millionaire by working on behalf of people who had been the victims of malpractice or of large incidentally evil corporations. Then he got elected to the Senate. Then he ran for president. His personal life includes one marriage to Elizabeth Edwards. That marriage had been tested by two events that that many of us pray won't happen to us, the death of a son, and Elizabeth's cancer. The Edwardses had two more children, and John stayed married to, and proud of, Elizabeth. Then the marriage was tested again, when John made a mistake in 2006. Now, according to him and his wife, one of the first things he did after he made this mistake was confess to Elizabeth, and start atoning for his sin, his breaking of the bond of trust between them. Since I cannot see into anyone else's soul, I have no right to judge John Edwards, but apparently Elizabeth has forgiven him and they are standing firmly together in the family they created together. I repeat: it is none of my business--I should not even know about Mr. Edwards' mistake unless he were running on a platform criminalizing adultery.

I really don't care what people's personal sins, or vices, or weaknesses are when they are running for public office. What people do in the privacy of their own homes, and souls, and families, is none of my business unless their sins affect the way they do their jobs. If they smoke a joint, or drink to excess, that's fine with me as long as they don't try to drive a car anywhere until they're fit to drive. If the President is committing serial adultery with exciting women, and also helping to inspire America to a great leap forward in civil rights, and public service, and competitive space programs, I do not need to know about the adultery. Because we have never elected a robot, or an android, or a saint to the presidency.

What I want to know about any and all candidates are their positions on important areas of policy, how much and what kind of experience they have, and any aspect of their character that has been made visible by their public work and actions. They can play sex games with sock puppets while smoking nasturtiums for all I care, but if they will reduce the national debt to zero, and then proceed to a surplus, I want them in the White House.

Now, I don't know much about John Edwards' policies, but I heard him say recently, between the jokes on the Colbert show, that he wanted to eliminate poverty in 30 years. YES! YES! Mr. Edwards -- I want you or someone like you in the White House. I want somebody who thinks big, and appears to have the smarts and the determination and the will and the capacity for hard work to try to do that. I don't know whether Mr. Edwards is an impractical visionary, but his previous life history shows a capacity to take this world as he finds it, and do something about the most glaring injustices. YOU GO, John Edwards.

In 1983, I met a woman who was within 7 months of her death from cancer. She had already been fighting it for about 10 years, and she was losing, and she knew it. When I met her, she was trying to complete the raising of four teenagers while living on welfare. She had not always lived on welfare. The children's father was at that time living in a nearby state with his second wife and their infant. He had apparently not been able to find a way to deal with his first wife's illness. Margaret (not her name), was a superb human being, bright, strong, determined, and fighting several battles, the most important of which she knew she would lose. I cannot see into the soul of Margaret's first husband, but I could see the effect on her of trying to raise her family without the support of a partner.

John and Elizabeth Edwards are still together, still supporting each other, still raising their children. To tell you the truth, I find them an even more admirable couple today than I did before their private pain was exposed to the glare of publicity.