Political marriages - for better or worse

Just for the record, a couple of quick thoughts on political marriages.

John Edwards’ late-coming admission of his affair shocks the political soul, again. (But nothing really compares to the former president’s dalliance.) It’s not just “boys will be boys.” Edwards was a big-time political leader who earned millions of votes in various national primary races. He was a major voice for class envy, class warfare even, and some people were listening.

Even though he talked it through with his family years ago, the public revelation opens the wounds afresh. And there’s still the open paternity question. (My goodness, that child deserves to know who her father is.)

No matter what the apologists say, the marriage vow still carries weight – and the breaking of that vow kills credibility with the public. Lying outright to gaggles of reporters at a time, well that can’t be good for one’s political future, can it?

John McCain, asked by pastor Rick Warren at Saturday’s Saddleback Civic Forum about his worst moral failure, said it was the failure of his first marriage. After “extramarital affairs,” he divorced, then remarried, and eventually regained good relationships with his first wife and their children.

Political marriages are unique and difficult for their own reasons: the unrelenting visibility, the pressure on the kids, all those parties. Maybe, like Oklahoma Congressman J.C. Watts, some of these guys should retire “to spend more time with their families.”

All the more reason to “pray for those in authority.”