John Edwards did not center his campaign around being a devoted husband. I'm tired of that false point being made as a basis to ridicule him and to keep him from re-entering the public arena. He did not center his campaign around being a devoted husband any more than any other candidate. One's wife is present, around, and involved in a campaign, and it ends there. No one knows what goes on in any marriage of any successful or unsuccessful public figure.

I welcome John Edwards back, and welcome his strong voice and ideas for implementing progressive policies.

His sex life and personal life should have no bearing on his proficiency and talents to fight for and help implement progressive public policy.

We all know that JFK, LBJ, Bill Clinton, and FDR had indescretions and complications in their personal lives, but were still allowed to be strong elements of the Democratic party and given opportunities to move the country forward.

As a Black American, living in the "Red" South, I want to say thank you to John and Elizabeth Edwards. It is because of your courage and patriotism that that there now is a President Barack Obama. I thank you, Elizabeth, for enduring those all day and all night bus tours throughout cold and snowy Iowa during the Primary. I thank you John for being our modern day Paul Revere. I remember the Coopers Union speech where you tried, oh so gently, to prepare us for what has happened, the collapse of our nation's financial institutions. In July of 2007 Senator John Edwards, proposed the following solutions:

"First, I will create a Family Savings and Credit Commission to make sure that financial services treat families safely. ...It will deal with all financial services ...It will ban the most abusive terms and make sure consumers understand the others. ...pass strong national laws protecting us against the worst abuses in credit markets predatory mortgages, abusive credit card terms, and payday loans with interest rates of 300 percent or higher. Finally, I will help create alternatives to abusive lenders. I will help working families build up a cushion by matching their savings and bringing bank accounts to the 56 million without them. And I will support non-profit groups offering affordable, short-term loans. We need a new era of responsible lenders who see families as long-term investments, not quick bucks. All across the economy, we need to do the same thing take on the special interests and put Washington back on the side of regular families. "

John Edwards (unlike many of the others who are now trying to scratch and claw their way into a Presidential Cabinet position) has over the last two years shown that he understands the problems that lay ahead for this country, and he would be an intelligent and competent addition to President Obama's Administration. I believe John Edwards has earned the U.S. Attorney General Position or an alternative position. For example, President Obama could create a Poverty Czar cabinet position for Senator John Edwards. There is no better person to head up such a department. Elizabeth Edwards has stated that she and John are willing to make fighting poverty their life's work.

As for "National Enquiring" minds let me share with you some quotes from
two Indiana University students:
"Sophomore Mariela Colindres told the Indiana Daily Student she thought Edwards
was right not to address the affair during the speech."Nothing he could have said to make it better, plus it's a personal issue," she said.

Graduate student Kortnee Warner agreed."I heard about some of those issues," Warner told the student newspaper. "It happens more than you realize it. I didn't make any character judgments."

Matthew 21:16
"They said to him, "Do you hear what these children are saying?" Jesus replied,
"Yes, I do. Have you never read,
'From the mouths of little children and infants, you have created praise'?":

God bless you, John and Elizabeth Edwards, and remember
"Black America Has Your back".

I am just so saddened by the demise of John Edwards, and I fear his current actions described in this article will only serve to delay any chance of recovery for him. He would have made a great appointment wherever Obama saw fit, but I am afraid it is just impossible at this point to hope that the media would focus on Edwards' qualifications rather that all the unseemly details of the affair. It just distracts from important issues to have Edwards associated with anything Democrats are doing at this point.
I think the advice in the article to go down to New Orleans and really roll up his sleeves is the best he should heed right now.

Well, John Edwards has gone down to New Orleans, already,
several times and rolled up his sleeves and helped out.
I believe, now, it is time for others like Paulson, and his friends on Wall Street, to whom he is giving billions of U.S.
taxpayers' money, to go down and help out.
They can all fly over and float down using their
"golden parachutes". Also the AIG Insurance company,
the US Auto Executives, and all of the other "secret people" getting the US government bailout should join John Edwards in New Orleans. Go to this url address and see John Edwards helping out in New Orleans:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DaofQCkbA8

Edwards is finished as a public figure. His qualifications were minimal from the outset--essentially consisting of making a good stump speech (though frankly his 2004 effort was better than his 2008). He definitely doesn't have the temperament or judgment thing going for him.

I agree that helping the recovery in New Orleans would be a good path for him.

Thomas Jefferson, the author of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, committed adultery and fathered children with his slave Sally Hemmings. John F. Kennedy committed adultery and he inspired this country to greatness. Franklin Delano Roosevelt committed adultery against the much beloved Eleanor Roosevelt, but he lead this country through the Great Depression and World War II. Lyndon B. Johnson committed adultery, but he got passed most of the U.S. Civil Rights Legislation. And we know more about President Bill Clinton's love life than we want to. I value John Edwards' political expertise, especially concerning the economy. Now that the U.S. has had a total collapse of its financial system I know John Edwards can be helpful in the Obama Presidential administration.

Now that the U.S. has had a total collapse of its financial system I know John Edwards can be helpful in the Obama Presidential administration.
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Except, in today's media-saturated culture, image is just as important as the message. John knew that better than anyone and tried desperately to maintain his aw-shucks image. Obama's team won't allow him to tarnish their finely crafted image, regardless of how many good things he's done.

John needs to follow the Bill template...continue to be involved with TONS of charity/humanitarian work and hope people will ignore your personal faults.

Apparently the country's real problems are still not serious enough to get attention off sex and malice.

America needs to 'grow up' when it comes to people's personal lives and affairs etc. What is the percentage of americans who are divorced? Have had affairs? Those who live in glass houses should stop throwing stones already.

Personally I have never been married or had an affair but I understand that our country is incredibly immature about the matters. Other countries see us a completely immature about sex.

Can you just imagine that it could happen that a man who's wife is very ill and perhaps dying acts out by having an affair? I am not condoning it but I can certainly have compassion for why it might have happened.

This man has talents and skills that are of value to our society and if he is willing to take the heat of the immature and scandalous media attention he will get for his public humiliation then I am willing to move on and let him play a role in helping to get our country back on track.

Let's keep it real, I would bet that a large percentage of public political figures have had extra-marital affairs. That doesn't make it right, but let's not crucify John for having the same failings that many of his colleagues have.

I remember in a high school history lesson we were presented with a ballot.

Candidate A- Known to have smoked opium in collegiate days, proven to have a mistress and consumes liquor heavily on a daily basis.
Candidate B- Takes injections of amphetamines, has had numerous affairs outside of marriage.
Candidate C- Decorated war hero, disapproves of tobacco use and maintains a strictly healthy diet.

When one takes the personal lives of political figures out of context, and chooses issues on the gut reaction to a candidate, the real issues are left in the dust. Although I disapprove of cheating in a relationship, I respectfully acknowledge when it is none of my business. With that said, the Democrats have lost one of their most powerful voices on the issue of poverty in America.

By the way, A is Winston Curchill, B is JFK, and C is Hitler.
Who did you vote for?

In my years as a psychotherapist I have seen a number of women who, having somaticized their pain, rage, and grief after having been betrayed by unfaithful spouses, developed breast cancer or some other potentially fatal malignancy. I don't claim anything other than anecdotal evidence based on my own experience, but it has happened often enough for me to recognize some potential etiological linkage. If my observations have any substance to them, then John Edwards has sufficient challenges of personal shame and guilt -- if he is capable of feeling those fundamentally human emotions -- to offer him bountiful opportunities for transformation and personal transcendence. And wouldn't that experience, should he embrace it, prove precisely the criteria we seek in a great and humanized leader? The simultaneous existence in a single personality of base as well as admirable traits is a phenomenon not limited to politicians; neither does it automatically prove hypocrisy. And sometimes it is precisely those individuals most publically confronted with their own flawed imperfection who can emerge from the tempering flames
as better people. I sincerely hope that this is true for John Edwards, who may as yet have many years of service and advocacy remaining to bestow upon this endarkened planet.

I keep reading the Edwards' ordeal and keep shaking my head in disbelief. What John has done sucks and it hurts. I know, have been there myself. But who is to judge?? Especially all those who go to church, read the Bible and...judge. They are holier than though. Let's face it: who is without sin here?? Also we might look what John has done and what he stands for for the common good. The Edwards' marriage is NONE of our business....I live and work in Europe. You can imagine, how they, again, laugh at us - and our hypocrisy. We wage wars, have guns and punish people for minor trespasses...and let the real crooks off the hook. A politician in Europe who happens to be entangled in a extra-marital affair ( and sorry, most do) doesn't get any space in the news. It is not important. Just - maybe - in the gossip columns. And that is where it belongs. Americans cheat like everyone else around the globe does. It' is just our sick sick sick hypocrisy that makes us a ridiculous, distorted bunch. As long as we are warmongers and have a rather dark history we should shut up and concentrate on the jobs that need to be done...so, those without sin should throw the first stone......

Don't feel sorry for Edwards. He'll be back, but for now he needs to just lay low for about a year, and then slowly crawl back. He can take another shot at the presidency in 2016.

What John Edwards NEEDS TO DO IS TO SHUT UP...AND STAY HOME TO HELP HIS CHILDREN AND AID HIS DYING WIFE!!!!!!...i, for one, never want to hear another lie come out of his all-too-cute-$400-haircut face!...take care of your wife, John....really!

As much as I liked John Edwards, how close he came to sinking the democrats victory and how self-centered that was, lost ALL the great respect I had for him. Had he won the nomination, had Obama picked him as running mate and then the affair came to light.....damn, Bush wins again!
He knew what the consequences were if he were caught, not just for him, but for the democratic party, and indeed the whole country. The only way he is forgiven in my eyes is to be found to have had a mental episode, or just to keep working behind the scenes. He doesn't deserve publicity anymore.

Obama should appoint Edwards Ambassador to France. The French would be very understanding.

Cherubim said most of what I feel. Poverty was not mentioned in the three presidential debates. Poverty and inequality lie at the center of our failed system. Fix them and you fix what ails America and the world. Edwards Cooper Union Speech clearly warned us of the coming crisis. His call for rewarding work over wealth back in 2003 cut to the heart of what has gone wrong in the last 30 years.
Eliot Spitzer wrote a piece about how his affair is not allowing him to help the progressive cause of righting wrongs. He also tried to warn of the crisis on Wall Street.
Time to cut these talented lawyers some slack. We need all hands on deck.

-John Edwards is best served by keeping it real, too.
Real: He is in the majority being a politician indulging in adultery. However, in the minority, he was caught.
Real: Part of his package- the underpinning to his campaign,was the use of his marriage as a critical prop.He and his wife trumpeted it big-time. That's okay, I guess. The persona of Elizabeth Edwards was for many people the most appealing thing about her husband's candidacy. Still, JE had a mostly slim rationale for running. She strengthened it.
Real: The Edwards' choice to make themselves, their history together, such a centerpiece means that they both were bidden to obey the public expectations that realistically go along with that- no affairs from the point of at least the 2004 campaign. Elizabeth may well have complied with that. Her husband did not.
Real: JE- and his wife- are hardly wide eyed innocents. If their marriage couldn't withstand the scrutiny, the glare, he still could have run, but not made their story their lore. His judgment- clearly an effective president's key trait- was appalling. Can that hugely poor decision-making be used against him to disqualify him for now- or ever- from a seat at the public table? Well, yes, it can. JE may not like it. It is not what he would prefer. He may think it unfair. His flaws were exposed. Now, no exceptions to consequences just because it is him. And let's get very real: JE simply doesn't have the base, the rationale, the skill level so vitally required to see America through now that the general public would overlook his ick factor. The "country" has been doing just fine without him. He is not irreplaceable. Not in American politics, anyway.
Real: Elizabeth Edwards was always more popular- far more- than her husband. Another example of "the wife of" that the electorate wished was running instead of her spouse. Any one who didn't see JE's vexed realization of this during his bathetic, self-serving 20/20 interview simply wasn't watching closely. That interview was devastating in what it revealed about JE. Believe us, JE, you did not have to confess to "America". We would have soldiered on without it.Your comportment during that interview- your very decision to seek it, in fact- was grindworthy. And spoke volumes.
Real: No one really knows what happens in a marriage. Not even the two people involved many times, although their children can certainly give interesting perspectives- if parents dare to ask. The same for the Edwards'. Perhaps this isn't the only affair- for either of them. Maybe they both came to terms with that part of their lives. Maybe they have both loved others or were driven to it, by circumstances, by each other. And still found a way to be together- enough common ground, including political expedience. That's certainly real. But, when in politics, if you decide to"live by (the public perception you market and convey about it) the marriage", you have to be prepared to 'die' by it as well. I can understand if JE doesn't want that to be true. But it is true. If he is resisting mightily against it, he should remind himself that he needed to think about what he was willing to trade- every time he reached for Rielle Hunter. Or was that part of the allure?
Real: His re-emergence smacks of being just too carefully thought about, too orchestrated. How about this, JE? How about going away? Just going away. Can you do it? Show the self-reflection necessary to do it? The lack of ego? No time limit known now. Simply move out of the public spotlight. Tamp down your hunger for it, the special recognition you drew from it. True work- not as a public relations move you strategically plan- is certainly the antidote- New Orleans- wherever. No more 20/20 or public media. Get on with your life- and not with the panic you feel with no longer being "part of it". America will let you know if they want you back. But don't build your life around it or court it or curry its favor. Here's a tip: Getting "real" doesn't count if you require a television/People Magazine/media moment to do it. It happens when you are by yourself and with the people you invest in. No cameras. No public declarations. And, finally, come to terms with what is inescapable- you will never be President of the United States. Or- perhaps- within power circles again. Not a terrible thing, that. I hear the company in those circles isn't all that admirable, anyway.

Has everybody forgotten that John McCain had an affair with Cindy and left his wife to marry her? In addition, Bob Dole and Newt both did the same.

I have not witnessed any public outcry about their fall from grace, yet John Edwards will be beaten up forever for his lack of fidelity to Elizabeth. The Republicans seem to be able to control the public discourse with their sound bites and pompus attitudes.

Mr. Edwards should focus on helping the poor. That's it for now. Focus on doing good work. Working with the victims of Katrina would be great--especially since he launched his campaign in a Katrina ravaged neighborhood. This kind of work would really help to build his brand back up. It's out of the limelight, sure, but devoting himself to helping the poor get their lives back in order would slowly, but surely, help bring back his credibility.

Thomas Jefferson didn't "commit adultery" with Sally Hemings. When Jefferson's wife Martha died, Sally was only eight years old.

John is a slime.. whatever good he may have done; GONE! he should just go away.. and hope his kids will forgive him.

Edwards is a man whose commitment to integrity is somewhat lacking to say the least. He has always come across as a man above the fray, more concerned about the 'common' man than himself. This whole affair was only the final straw, not something unfairly overblown by the media. His decision to continue despite Elizabeth's cancer showed that he cared more for his political ambitions than for his family. And for all that she sacrificed for him this is the thanks she gets? And now, again, it's his political career front and center and not his family. The only question is when will he every grow up?

John Lennon once said, "Elvis died when he went into the Army." Well, John Edwards died when he voted for the Iraq War.