John Edwards & Al Gore: Too Good to Be True by Elizabeth Searle
Once upon a time, two lovely smart Southern Belles named Elizabeth and Mary Elizabeth fell in love at tender ages with two smooth-talking Southern ‘gentlemen’ possessing good hair and grand political ambitions.
Both married their handsome hard-working husbands early and had multiple lovely children. Both couples endured family tragedy, political ups and downs, Vice Presidential and Presidential campaigns. Both Southern ‘gentlemen’ used their photogenic families to further their careers, very publically declaring their undying love for their longtime wives.
In both cases, the seeming fairytale marriages end with late-in-life splits. Maybe this is not an altogether fair fairytale comparison:
After all, John Edwards has gone to court for his allegedly illegal efforts to funnel campaign donations to his mistress. In the case of Al and Mary Elizabeth (‘Tipper’) Gore, their mystifying mid-life split has been carefully shrouded in mystery as to motivation.
What we do know is that Tipper Gore, who has bravely acknowledged her struggles with depression and who did not seek out a public life, stood by Al Gore through four children and one of the worst, most grueling election dramas in history– in a race Gore lost in part because he scorned the help of ‘disgraced’ adulterer Bill Clinton (still at Hillary’s side all these years later).
Of course tongues are wagging now when Al Gore, 64, began publicly stepping out with wealthy environmentalist Elizabeth (that name again) Keadle– who had been in Gore’s circle since before his separation (still not a divorce) from Tipper.
Unlike Bill Clinton, who never pretended to be a paragon of virtue, Al Gore and John Edwards made their self-proclaimed ‘happily ever after’ marriages centerpieces of their political lives. What’s the moral of these stories?
Voters and bright beautiful young women alike should beware of smooth-talking men who make public proclamations of love that seem, like the men themselves, too good to be ‘true.’
(photos: GoogleImages)
