John Edwards and Privacy

Another day, another scandal descending on a politician – this time in the US. Via Guido, I see that John Edwards, (twice) failed candidate for the Democrat nomination for President and failed candidate for the Vice-Presidency, has admitted to having an affair. The world should emit a deep sigh of ennui at the revelation that a politician can’t keep his winky in his trousers.

As far as I am concerned, who really cares? This is a private matter for Edwards and his family. He had an affair, he hurt his wife, he hurt his kids. He should be allowed to deal with it in his own way outside of the glaring limelight of the media glare. This, fundamentally, is a private matter.

That said, I do think there was something very naïve in Edwards believing he could run for President without this affair coming out. Seriously, in this day and age the media will find out. And by thrusting himself into the (inter)national spotlight he will have had everyone digging into his past, desperate for any potentially salacious story. How he thought this wouldn’t come out is utterly, utterly beyond me. It has all the hallmarks of a great story – photogenic candidate for President, having an affair. A potential love child in the background. How could this not become a major news story?

It is a bit like Mark Oaten running for the Lib Dem leadership a few years ago. It could not fail to be the sort of news story that the News of the Screws loves, and their readership devours. Yes, you could argue that Oaten, Edwards etc have a right to privacy – and I would be inclined to agree with you. And I think one of the reasons that many capable people do not run for government is that they do not want to put themselves or their loved ones through the harsh, searching eyes of the media. However, that media glare is there. So whilst I feel for Oaten, for Edwards, for all the others, I also wonder just how the hell they thought they would be able to get away with running for high office with such media friendly skeletons lurking in their closets.