At least they're not President

I have not been a fan of Pres. Obama but the bookshelves this week and give me reason to be happy he's president is opposed to at least two other people: Mark Sanford and John Edwards.

Two books are out this week by people close each of the former presidential contenders. The Edwards book is written by a former aide and the Sanford book was written by his soon-to-be ex-wife. I have not, and probably will not, read the books, but I have seen and read interviews with the authors. Apparently both books detail extramarital affairs being carried on by both presidential contenders. In Edwards' case the extramarital affair also produced a child that he now acknowledges is his. In the Sanford case the extramarital affair produced the now infamous "hiking trip" and the confession that his mistress was his "soul mate".

Yes, I am really glad these two are not President and will never be president. I am not going to get into the moral discussion of their behavior and the violation of their wedding bows. That seems rather obvious. To me, what shows that these men are not fit to be president and never were is the sheer arrogance, coupled with stupidity, of their actions.

Let's start with Sen. Edwards. He had a natural profile for high public office: very successful trial lawyer who won election to the U.S. Senate from a state that is fairly conservative. He managed to land a spot on the 2004 Democratic ticket as the vice presidential candidate and was viewed by many as just the type of moderate Southerner in the Democratic Party needed to reclaim the White House. The problem was, he was not real moderate in certain areas.

It is alleged that he carried a lengthy affair and got his mistress pregnant all while running for president. He never considered for one moment dropping out of the race even when confronted with his infidelities and the pregnancy of his mistress. His former aide alleges that an elaborate scheme was hatched to hide the mistress at various locations throughout the country while Edwards continue to campaign for the presidency. Only the voters of Iowa and New Hampshire state Democratic Party, and possibly the country, from a gripping scandal. Now it is just salacious and amusing, but what if Edwards was the Vice President or President of the United States? Thank you Iowa, thank you New Hampshire and thank you Barack Obama (bet you never thought I would say that).

I just have to shake my head when I hear the Edwards story. How could this man think that he could carry out a campaign for president of the United States and not get caught? In this day and age, how could he think the media would not eventually track down the story and publish it? As I said, it is either the height of arrogance or the height of stupidity. With that level of arrogance and stupidity, I'm thankful that he is not a person who will ever sit behind the desk in the Oval Office.

With Sanford, the story involves arrogance and stupidity mixed with just plain pathetic. Again, we have a man who was by all accounts was making plans to run for President of the United States. He has apparently been carrying on a relationship with this woman from Argentina over the course of several years. The whole thing came to light when the governor disappeared for a week.

When you're a governor of a state you cannot just disappear for a week. Literally nobody knew where he was including his own security detail. When the governor reappeared he initially said he was hiking to clear his head. He only later did he admit that he had been down in Argentina visiting his mistress. The governor had left the country and nobody knew about it.

Next however, the Sanford story seems to be slightly different from Edwards's. Sanford did not intend to continue a presidential campaign. He went on another type of campaign that was simply pathetic. He began doing a series of televised confessionals. Going on television and admitting he had been unfaithful to his wife would have been bad enough, but he went further. He went on to tell the world that his mistress was in fact his "soul mate". He said he was going to "try" to fall back in love with his wife. I think most of us watching those interviews were ready to draw the divorce papers for Mrs. Sanford for free.

For now, it appears these two are done with politics, particularly presidential politics. Remember, America does love a come back story. John Edwards already managed to get down to the earthquake ravaged Haiti and get himself in front of the cameras. I'm not convinced we've seen the last of him.

Sanford seems content serving out his term as governor and then hopefully going away. That said, there's no guarantee he will not find some cause to do his "good work" and an eventually turn up on Oprah to tell all of America that he has learned so much from all of his mistakes.

We do love comebacks.

For all my criticisms of President Obama, I can truly say I am glad he is president and not either of these two guys.