“I’ve seen a picture of the baby. I have no idea. It doesn’t look like my children but I don’t have any idea,” Edwards told Winfrey. – New York Daily News
The federal probe of John Edwards campaign funds all leads back to the affair. It’s the latest chapter in the politician’s clumsy fall from grace, which has dragged his wife through a heart wrenching ordeal at a moment in her life where this kind of stress could be her undoing. In an interview with Oprah airing Thursday, one of the conditions was that the name of “the other woman” (known in the real world as Rielle Hunter), with whom Mr. Edwards became involved, would never be mentioned. That gives you an idea of how far away Mrs. Edwards has to keep the details.
Mrs. Elizabeth Edwards, reprising the heroine in her life’s journey, has a book coming out. There is an adapted excerpt in Time magazine that gives everyone a look through the barely cracked door of her experience, at least that’s the obscured view you get from this article. I hope Mrs. Edwards’ book is a bit more honest, candid, real, understanding it’s a broader book that just this tragedy. After all, Mrs. Edwards is more than her husband, even as she’s weighed down by him.
It didn’t occur to me that at a fancy hotel in New York, where he sat with a potential donor to his antipoverty work, he would be targeted by a woman who would confirm that the man at the table was John Edwards and then would wait for him outside the hotel hours later when he returned from a dinner, wait with the come-on line “You are so hot” and an idea that she should travel with him and make videos.
[...] There were other opportunities, he admitted, but on only one night had he violated his vows to me. So much has happened that it is sometimes hard for me to gather my feelings from that moment. I felt that the ground underneath me had been pulled away. I wanted him to drop out of the race, protect our family from this woman, from his act. It would only raise questions, he said, he had just gotten in the race; the most pointed questions would come if he dropped out days after he had gotten in the race. And I knew that was right, but I was afraid of her.
Over fifteen years ago I was immersed in the world of relationships, dating and marriage, but also the seedier side of sexuality and its traps. I’ve written about it many times, including in a book, having interviewed hundreds and hundreds of people on every aspect of the mating and marriage game, including infidelity, cheating and sexual seduction, listening to people, including several thousand men. Having stopped this investigative romp through the human side of life almost 10 years ago, I still believe I am an expert on these matters, because matters of the heart, mind and flesh just don’t change that much. The Edwardses prove that, as did the Clintons before them, and the Harts before them, though there are many more in this club, including J.F.K., F.D.R. and even George H.W. Bush. The list is no doubt endless, famous or not.
“Targeted by a woman,” writes Mrs. Edwards. This is the saddest statement of all in this Time piece. There is nothing left to cover the embarrassment of what John Edwards brought into their world. But women always seem to choose the target of the woman who made the advances instead of the man who could have simply said no and walked away.
As for the fear Mrs. Edwards felt, there hasn’t been any reporting or charges from the Edwardses about his paramour being dangerous. So the fear Mrs. Edwards feels comes from a different quadrant. A place where you fear your entire world could come crashing down at a time when, because of her terminal illness, that’s already manifested in part. So the fear Mrs. Edwards has of the other woman not only seems misplaced, but a tragic attempt to plead for protection from a man who has already illustrated he’s not up to the job.
Is there anything worse than abandoning your spouse during her fight for life so that you can get your ego off?
Marriage is meant to be forever. In Mrs. Edwards you see what this means and how desperately dependent couples get on one another so that admitting truth is very often couched in what can be salvaged, then gained by the man’s (or woman’s) shame. Something that makes him want to do anything to erase his weak, ego driven behavior that really has nothing to do with the person with whom he risked everything, but is more about his own insecurity, vanity and appalling weakness.
Of course, on these issues Bill Clinton comes to mind, as well as Hillary Clinton, who dared to face it all to hold her husband’s presidency together, while pleading with Democrats in Congress to help her do it. What’s at stake in a presidency, however, is a bit more consequential than keeping a man’s presidential campaign hopes alive at a time when his much admired wife is dying. Though the words as I write them make me want to gag on any comparisons at all.
The most revealing section in this short Time’s piece is also the most incredibly insulting to the people who put their trust in this fraud of a man:
I wanted him to drop out of the race, protect our family from this woman, from his act. It would only raise questions, he said, he had just gotten in the race; the most pointed questions would come if he dropped out days after he had gotten in the race.
It’s stunning when you analyze these sentences, especially given the fact that the John Edwards presidential campaign couldn’t have happened without Elizabeth, because they ran together in a “shared mission.” All I see is the John Edwards brushing his hair to that YouTube clip for all those minutes trying to get every hair on his head exactly perfect. A video which is now deemed “private.” Interesting after all those years of public exposure.
Narcissistic villain and two bit charlatan are the words that come to mind.
Winfrey asked Edwards directly whether she’s still in love with her husband.
“You know, that’s a complicated question,” she said.
Reading between those lines is not.
I’ve interviewed guys like Edwards before. He’s no different, except he was put on a pedestal by some people. Mrs. Edwards deserved better. As she fights for her life she still does. But that’s her choice. Opening all this up for people to see and review again is as well. It looks even worse in redux.
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