The Politician: An Insider's Account of John Edwards's Pursuit of the Presidency and the Scandal That Brought Him Down

Comment: Read this book. Its amazing, creepy, fascinating and thoughtful. Believe it or not its not a tabloid tell-all. Young has something to say and we should listen.

Its been over thirty years since the publication of John Dean's Blind Ambition, but the impact of that spellbinding story still resonates. How did a politician create an atmosphere where talented young men were willing to sacrifice their careers, reputations and their families' security? How was that loyalty rewarded? Nixon gave no pardons to the men who had thrown their lives away for him but he managed a pardon for himself, convinced others that he had "suffered enough," and retired on a hefty taxpayer supplied pension while the men who had given everything to him, went to jail, were disbarred and relied on their families for the little support they receieved.

Andrew Young worked for John Edwards, and Elizabeth too for ten years. Like Dean, Young took excellent notes every day which is why we have this incredible and strange book about John and Elizabeth Edwards and the extreme level of loyalty that that couple expected as their due.

Andrew Young's The Politician should have a similar impact to Blind Ambition. Like Dean, Young was an inexperienced, ambitious and enthusiastic young lawyer when he first went to work for John Edwards--and he was thrilled to be so close to this charismatic man and his wife. He describes Elizabeth and John Edwards in 1998 as a loving and devoted couple. But over the years, they become addicted to the perks of power, the private planes, the celebrities, all of it. And then John Edwards does something truly stupid. He has an affair with a woman who has no visable means of support, no real career and no way of being anybody without Edwards. In other words, a woman who has every reason to get pregnant and spill the beans.

One of the creepiest aspects of this story? Rielle Hunter was probably the source for the National Inquirer stories. Edwards knew this. He was told again and again. But like so many powerful men he just could not get over himself long enough to believe it.

Young is asked, bit by bit, to do more and more to help keep the information from the press. Young is named the baby's father--but long before that Edwards has been spreading that story without his knowledge! Edwards asks Young for more and more sacrifices. each time promising "I'll remember you." By the time John Edwards is finished he has ruined Young financially and destroyed his career. He has forgotten every promise he ever made to Young and his family and says he will "give him a good reference." This from a man whose wife has called every potential employer of Young and smeared him with charges that Young is a liar and a thief.

But unlike John Dean, Young has not obstructed justice, is not headed for jail. Like Dean he has a great memory and, surprise, a detailed diary of ten years working for John Edwards. Oh yeah and then there is this sex tape of Edwards and Hunter that Rielle left lying around. Is having this sex tape disgusting? It would be if Young released to the press but consider this. If Young had not had that sex tape, would anyone believe this incredible story? Would John Edwards have finally owned up? After covering for years and misusing donated funds, it seems highly unlikely.

By this time a grand jury is being formed to look into how the coverup was financed. Andrew Young might as well have written this book. The story was coming out anyway.

The Politician reads like memoir at the start, but the last fifty pages are a John Grisham novel. Read it. You won't forget it.

Comment: I purchased a new hard-cover book at a very good price, and the shipping was prompt. I would purchase again from Amazon.

Comment: The most enlightening theme of this book is the ultimate dedication of Andrew Young to John Edwards and his family. He seemed to really believe Edwards would change the direction of the country despite knowing him up close and personal. Andrew Young educated the reader on the day-to-day work of running a campaign and his shocking loyalty to the Edwards family. The Edwards' knew no bounds when it came to service (Christmas card photo and fixing bed to name a few). He was on call all the time, doing anything for Edwards with the final sacrifice of declaring he is the father of Edward's mistress baby. There is not much to like about John and Elizabeth Edwards in Young's final analysis. They were/are both power hungry and quick to demean others.

As a cheater, Edwards had the audacity to think the American people would elect (let alone nominate) an unfaithful spouse whose wife has terminal cancer. Americans seem to tolerate murder and wars but never adultery, i.e. Tiger Woods, Jesse James. Elizabeth has garnered the sympathy of most women in this country and it is disappointing to learn in this book and "Game Change", that she is a calculating shrew. It also disturbed me that Edwards, as a senator, never took the time to read the background and details of the bills before him. He proved he was out for himself and relied on his charm, connections and a very smart staff.

I do think Young wrote well and tried to present a fair presentation. However, his goal was to outline his case to defend himself and he needs the money. I appreciated his honesty that no one would give him a job after the Edwards fiasco, and Young needs a best seller to pay his bills. He is tenacious and detail-oriented given his ability to master the art of running a tight, brilliant campaign. Young is an extremist himself. He worked later than anyone, he would drop everything to "step and fetchit" for the Edwards. His lauds the love of his life, Cheri, his wife and loyal companion ad nauseum. I think he apologized to her enough without us hearing about how wonderful she was all the time.

John Edwards' fall from grace was a shock. Many Americans believed in him and he shattered the lives of many of his staff and depleted the net worth of many contributors. Young proved Edwards is a sad commentary on American politics.

Comment: Thanks to Andrew Young that we find out more what a slimy toad Edwards is. A lot of us had supported him in his first run for president; how lucky we are that he did not win. Edwards turned out to be everything that he said he wasn't, and to get mixed up with a woman when his wife was in treatment for cancer; is just unspeakable. I will never ever support another politician like I did Edwards.

Comment: One word of warning, (and meaning on disrespect to the author) those uninterested in the rather mundane details of the author's personal life, and his spats with Mrs. Edwards (and since in most cases the reader will have to fill in the blanks himself anyway to really determine what happened) not much is missed by skipping forward to chapter eight of the book.

When the author implies up front that his motives are to tell the truth, make money, and settle scores (not necessarily in that order) then not much remains left to the reader's imagination. Despite this, the truth, to the extent it is to be found at all in this book, remains curiously buried among the many other priorities and inessential but elusive details - most of which are of the "he-said she-said" variety. The "meaty stuff" begins at chapter eight as the narrative turns to telling us how, with a calculated self-destruction difficult to understand, John Edwards began his tawdry affair with a new age space cadet and low-level party girl, Rielle Hunter. There began his ignominious, fiery and steep descent into political hell and possibly into political oblivion. One that so far has only been matched by Bill Clinton with Monica Lewinsky and Tiger Woods playing sexual Russian Roulette with his family, his health, and his multi-billion dollar career.

How did the gifted, charismatic, ambitious, photogenic John Edwards do it? The short answer the author gives appears in the final paragraphs of the book. It is that in the glare of the public sun, the deeper flaws of Edward's character and personality began to reveal themselves and finally inexorably overtook him. The long answer is that it was a slow agonizing human progression: political death by a thousand little deceptions (self deception being the first and most important one); a thousand little white lies, and a thousand little betrayals: all minimized but yet accumulating to eventually tip the scales of Edward's own mental equilibrium.

Some may consider it a side issue but usually when men are successful, the cliché would have us believe that it is the women behind them responsible. Is it unreasonable to ask: Where are these women when their men fail? Are they then like gods who share in the glory but not in the blame? It's just a rhetorical question that keeps being begged as these tawdry affairs continue unfolding among both "powerful and not so powerful couples."

It appears that the number one lesson from this story is that the glare of the political sun quickly singes our erstwhile heroes' outer skins: consumes their exteriors, churning and turning charisma, political charm, hubris, good looks, blind ambition and talent into a kind of situational psychosis, a kind of cultural psychopathology that we keep seeing over and over again. Tiger blamed his descent on flawed judgment brought on by the intense glare. Bill Clinton did too. But this author's short answer seems to make the more sense in all these cases: Character inhibits from the inside out. Situations can challenge character but cannot overwhelm it. When character is there, the threat of the glare is averted. When its not, voila: Edwards, Clinton and Woods. In short, we might conclude from this lesson that character may be the only shield against the blinding sun of hubris, talent, fame, ambition and unconditional public adulation.

The author claims to have held on for dear life on the roller-coaster ride down the steep decline because he believed in the Edwards vision: The price of loyalty was bought at the altar of a greater vision. But anyone who reads carefully between the lines might challenge Young's version of events, of his undying loyalty and even his own motives. After all he admits that he was well-paid, although he never even gave us a ball park figure. My calculations based on perks alone should have put him in the 200-300k bracket. If so, that's not bad for a ten-year career as a political functionary. He built two houses in ten years, at least one of which was on a lake. He also was getting a percentage of the funds he raised. Money like that can buy a lot of loyalty, vision or no vision.

The author also claimed to have been innocent of the games the powerful and treacherous play, yet when he was finally dealt a winning hand at the table of the "big dogs" based on his guilty secret knowledge of Edward's affair, he had no problem playing it like a professional. This book is itself only exhibit two. Exhibit one was the author's anemic attempt at blackmailing the Edward's and his fawning before Edward's "big dog" contributors. This "acquired taste and skill in treachery" just may have been a case of "when in Rome do as Romans, "as the author suggests, or an imperative in the heat of battle to save his family income, but somehow one doubts it.

The larger issue is this. Many of us supported John Edwards (and later Barack Obama) even though they saw as I did something sinister behind that sly insincere Southern grin that is difficult to trust. But what were the choices? The Chicago politician? Or one half of the couple who presided over but denied knowledge of Mena Arkansas? Or the Annapolis bad boy from Arizona? [You see my point?]

From any angle in the American political and cultural firmament, we see cheapness, tawdriness, liars and conmen, most are like John Edwards, clad in sheep skin, pawning themselves off as respectable men and women but who cannot wait to turn their faces to the burning sun. Two stars