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John Edwards Ducks Rielle Hunter
Elise Amendola / AP Photo
Speaking at Brown University last night, the one-time presidential candidate for the first time publicly addressed the distress of one of his former supporters. (Definitely former—she was wearing a black Obama "HOPE" T-shirt.) It was a poignant moment.
Before a packed audience of almost 600 at Brown University last night, John Edwards made his second public appearance since the presidential election. At Indiana University in November, Edwards answered only prescreened questions. Edwards still seemed cautious—his contract for the Brown event specifically prohibited videotaping. But he did answer a variety of questions—unscreened this time—from students for almost a half hour. And, for the first time, he publicly responded to the disappointment of one former supporter who pressed the former senator about holding politicians to higher standards.
His half-hour speech, titled “Beautiful America,” focused on the centerpiece of his presidential campaign, the plight of the poor.
Was it right for the public to judge candidates by this higher moral standard? The question presented the tensest moment of the night.
If he was hoping for a sympathetic audience, Edwards picked the right place. Brown students asked questions about campus warhorses like youth activism, corporate social responsibility, and the drug war—nothing about his affair with former staffer Rielle Hunter.
One student, however, came close: Emilie Aries, a senior at Brown concentrating in political science, who had volunteered for the Edwards campaign for about a year, going door-to-door for him in New Hampshire.
“So as someone who believed in you,” she said, “I really wanted to afford you the opportunity to speak on something that I think Joe Trippi, your former campaign manager, explains pretty well toward the end of his book, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. And in there, he says something about the American public judging candidates to hold a higher moral standard, on a higher moral standard, than they would judge normal people in our daily lives.”
Was it right for the public to judge candidates by this higher moral standard? The question presented the tensest moment of the night.
Edwards didn’t give a direct answer. He said, “I don't think it's for me to impose my judgment on anybody about what they can consider and what they can't consider. I think that I have my own view, which I'm going to keep to myself tonight, but I think in the long run it is enormously important for us to have the best thinkers, the most visionary people, and people who know where the country needs to go and where the world needs to go, I think that is absolutely crucial for America and the world.”
Afterward, Aries said she was less than satisfied. She was hoping for a fuller apology from the former candidate.
The one that came after the revelation of his affair was a disappointment. “I didn't want to hear about his ego, I wanted to hear him apologize to the people like me who worked to the point of illness on our own time, our Christmas, basically.”
The eerie silence in the lecture hall over Edwards’ affair also bothered Aries.
“It's stupid that we all have to sit in there thinking the same thing and nobody actually talks about it,” she said.
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woodnut
Matt Sledge can't be a real name.
Cherubim
I thank God, that John and Elizabeth Edwards have worked hard and preserved their marriage. We need both of them as advocates against poverty and for Universal Health Care.
smdunne
What John Edwards needs to do is to stop pontificating to America. He needs to devote his time and attention to his terminally ill wife, his children - and if it's true that he fathered a child with his mistress, to that child too. He has more than enough on his plate, and if he concentrated on those priorities with real humility and love he might actually redeem himself.
Snoop-Diggity-DANG-Dawg
Cherubim, glad to see you're still just as much of a douchebag as ever.
Well done.
Cherubim
By the way, I'm sorry things didn't work out between
Ms. Aries and Senator John Edwards, but she always knew he was already married.
myview
Cherubim, your comment is terribly offensive to a fellow woman and one-time supporter of John Edwards. I strongly believe that I am far from alone. I feel that Edwards has lost the future vote of women. Among this group, his integrity has been damaged beyond repair, IMO.
I think that there will be continued and much-needed discussion about the moral standard set by the politicians who serve us. The voting public deserves better! John Edwards cannot possibly resurrect his political career without coming completely clean about his moral transgressions, IMO. The public is owed answers to the tough questions that Edwards is currently skirting.
Future ambitious politicians might take heed of the continued fallout from Edwards "fall from grace." America needs a better thinker than this. It needs visionary who knows how important honesty is. America is in need of someone who sets a positive, moral standard which others want to emulate. It does not need someone who will keep dig a trench to escape the spotlight and much-needed scrutiny! What Edwards continues to do in the aftermath of his affair is so much more than disappointing; it is sickening.
YARROW
I LIKE BOTH ELIZABETH, AND JOHN EDWARDS, I'M ALSO GLAD THEY, HAVE DECIDED TO STAY TOGETHER, PEOPLE DO MAKE MISTAKES
jacobin
Please remind me why anyone is paying any attention to John Edwards. He is and was an empty suit.
Politicker
Cherubim, while I find your attempt to discredit my question to Sen. Edwards amusing, I supported him because of his commitment to bridging our economic gap in this country. It was his hubris, which your ridiculous suggestion contributes to, that led to his own demise. I wonder whether you'd be drawing the same conclusion about my intentions if my question had been yielded by a male member of the audience.
myview
Great point, Politicker! Here are some more questions from another former supporter: Was it "best thinking" to publicly disgrace and betray your cancer-ridden wife who admitted just how important fidelity was to her even before your marriage to her? What lasting "vision" will your own children have when they realize just how shallow your own family commitment has been? Will you be able to lead the advocacy movement when "damage control" is one of your priorities? Is your self-professed narcissism currently interfering with your ability to be honest with the public? How can you be trusted to lead America and/or the world when so many unanswered questions remain? How much longer will we be taken for fools?
RhodyDem
Hey, Cherubim, why don't you get your head out of Edwards' ass? Should a senator cheat on his wife (who is living with Cancer) with a member of his staff? Not in my America, not in my America.
Grown up, ass clown.
Rafter
I would agree with jacobin to a point. I admit, however, that I do care because he has received a way to easy ride. The man was always a "phony". But when he got busted, he never paid a price. The old medicine man being "tarred, feathered and run out of town on a rail" and publicly shunned comes to mind.
highflag
I regret that this young woman's trust was betrayed by Sen. Edwards inability to keep it in his pants. I suppose she supported the impeachment of Bill Clinton as well.
I for one, find such matters immaterial to the issues facing our nation, and none of my damned business...
carouzer
What a pointless article.
On the underlying question about personal morality and leadership, let's compare the condition of the country after GW Bush left office with the condition of the country when Bill Clinton left office.
Lord knows, nobody ever accused Dubya of being a philander--and everyone knows that Clinton chased (and caught) every woman who caught his eye. How many of us want to go back to the Bush days? In contrast, how many would happily return to Clinton's days in the Oval Office? There have been other notable womanizers--FDR, JFK, Washington, Jefferson (Sally Hemmings), etc., and I'm sure there were others who made substantial contributions to the country. There personal behavior didn't enter in.
Today, it would seem the American public is obcessed with being voyeurs at the bedside of every notable poltician, actor or athelete..not to mention Joe Schmoe, next door. Morally, it really isn't any of our business, is it? Isn't there something in the Bible about "judge not, that ye be not judged?"
Am I defending philanderers? Definitely not. But personal relationships are and should be the business of the people in them unless they involve criminal behavior. There isn't any reason to believe that Edwards was any less committed to the cause of fighting poverty after he had his affair than before.
Sorry, Ms. Aries if your sophomoric passion for the cause was extinguished by the behavior of the man who espoused it. Apparently he's still willing to fight for it despite potential personal embarrassement and you are not. What, exactly, does that say about both of you?
Based on his behavior, I sure wouldn't want him to be my brother-in-law. But his behavior doesn't say anything about his ability to govern.
MandyNC
The measure of Mr. Edwards character will not be that he fell from grace by possibly fathering a child outside of his marriage. The measure of his character will be whether he acknowledges this child and welcomes it to his family of 4 older children, one of whom died at age 16. They are all his children. To deny one his "fathering" would be the major sin here, not the initial fathering. That is the minor sin and a private matter between him and his wonderful wife, Elizabeth.
sempervmarine
I was actually surprised that John Edwards had an affair. I always thought he was in love with his hair.
BridgitB
LOL!! Right on target!
sempervmarine
There is actually no direct correlation between upholding high moral standards and the exercise of outstanding presidential leadership. FDR, Eisenhower, JFK, Clinton, and others, they all had their well known affairs, but anyone of these guys ran the country one thousand percent better than saintly G.W. Bush.
BridgitB
We don't know how what it took to keep their indiscretions from the light of day. Could they have done better were the time and focus spent on maintaining secrecy, not to mention the time and effort the bad behavior depleted used towards productive behavior? Do you want your hard earned taxes wasted by babysitting and cleaning up messes left in the wake of our leaders? Are they responsible for decisions that result in consequences of incredible magnitude? If so, would it be better for all of us and in line with what we pay them to do, that they have a moral compass to judge by? If they are above the law, does that make it easier for them to declare laws that would be harmful to the 'regular folk' that sit beneath their dining room tables in order to be fed?
Your hostility to saints and support of immorality answers the questions and says a lot about who you are.
Thank you.
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