Way to go, Newsweek

For once a thoughtful article appeared about a candidate’s spouse. Newsweek describes Ms Edwards as a once spunky law student, a knows-her-own-mind lawyer, an energetic mom (she grew grass – the green kind – on her son’s Halloween costume by misting seeds daily until they sprouted and he and his pals could go out dressed as a golf course), an older parent (her last child was born 3 years ago, when she was 50), a moral person (something tells me she would not be in the predicament of our state AG, who today is on the front page of the local paper with a ticket for drunk driving –how stupid was that, Peg?).

One paragraph about past political spouses did cause me to be concerned. Newsweek states:

Often a presidential contender’s spouse is defined by the way she complements the candidate, and is seen as providing some supposedly missing ingredient: Tipper was Al’s heart,…and Laura tells George what’s in the morning papers. (The story then goes on to say that John and Elizabeth Edwards are very much alike.)

That’s worrisome, isn’t it? Did George fall through the cracks in school? Was he pushed forward? Is he one of the growing number of adults who have managed to conceal the sad fact that they cannot read? It would explain a lot.