Andrew Young’s book The Politician, which details his taking the blame for John Edwards’ affair and love child in the midst of the 2008 Presidential primary campaign, came out a few weeks ago. Earlier today, Young finished up his rounds on the talk show circuit by trying to deflect Oprah Winfrey’s withering glare. Young’s wife was with him for half the interview, and each, in slightly different ways, delivered a story straight out of a soap opera, one full of lies, lust, betrayals, affairs, children out of wedlock, taking the fall for a prominent and ambitious millionaire, harshly-worded phone calls and sex tapes.

It is quite the story, about which (at least in spirit) someone who was not involved will one day write a great American novel. I remain somewhat dubious of Young’s motivations, mostly because throughout the interview he sported a peculiar shit-eating-type grin on his face. Also, the other woman, Rielle Hunter, has claimed in court documents that the two Youngs have lied under oath and in the media.

In spite of my dubiousness about the tawdriest details of this story (which I can sum up in one quotation: “[Edwards] allowed himself to be videotaped while engaged in sex acts with a visibly pregnant woman while his wife was dying of cancer…”), one thing that no can deny is that the American public in general and Democrats in particular got extremely lucky that these details came to light when they did, during the primaries and later the search for Vice President and Cabinet ministers, and not six, ten, twelve, or eighteen months later.

In other words, before Barack Obama won the Presidential election and appointed people to prominent positions in his staff, and not after.

Can you imagine? Amidst the roiling political tidal wave of Obama’s first year, with everybody nervous and abandoning the ship they put into office a scant one year down the line, what if this piece of shit John Edwards were enmeshed in a love child scandal while Vice President or Attorney General? If you think smug Republicans who say nothing by acting like they’re saying everything are bad now, what if they actually had something to denounce? If the vague “family values” and “issues-based” representatives could aim their flaming rhetorical arrows at the slickest, smoothest, best-coiffed and richest member of our current President’s staff?

Many of the facts of this situation are disputed (mostly by the people on whom they reflect most poorly), but what remains undisputed is this: John Edwards, the charismatic Presidential candidate, the champion of the poor and working class, had an affair on his terminally-ill wife during the campaign, fathering a child with his mistress and then denying his flesh and blood’s existence in an attempt to save his political career. He asked Young take the fall for the entire thing, and Young, for whatever reason, agreed to do so, even though he had a wife and young children and had not done anything wrong to that point.

There’s nothing new about this situation. Charismatic southern politicians fathering children out of wedlock dates back at least to Thomas Jefferson, the author of the document on which the founding of these United States is based. The brazenness of Edwards’ story is shocking in its own right, but there’s nothing revolutionary about his belief that his charisma and political gifts somehow made him special and able to beat the charges. His hubris allowed him to believe he would come out ahead in the end of this, so long as everyone kept their mouths shut and did what he said.

Stupid? Yes. Original? No.

In the Oprah interview, Ms. Winfrey did not let Young off the hook. Once his wife joined him, Oprah eased up, but when it was just she and Young talking about what happened, Winfrey hammered him about what the hell he was thinking. Young never gave a clear answer, except to say, “What you have to realize is…” before blabbering about trusting John Edwards and wanting to see him succeed. At times he referred to Edwards as “my best friend” and at others as “my boss,” so it remains unclear exactly how close they were. They couldn’t have been too close, because anyone who’s had a trouble-making friend knows the relationship is only as good as what that catastrophe-prone individual has asked you to do. It seems Young falls somewhere between trusted advisor and lackey, someone in position to be used by Edwards without Edwards feeling too terrible about it.

Oprah’s defiance of Young’s vague answers revealed a two-tiered motive: on the one hand, she was disgusted with Young’s gutless supporting performance, but on the other, more subtle tier, she was horrified that this may have cost Barack Obama legitimacy and a shot at the position he’s attained had everything come out sometime after Edwards held a prominent position on President Obama’s staff.

The people involved had to know that at some point the jig would be up. They had to know there was a shelf life, and they had to have seen the writing on the wall several times throughout their situation, no matter how many times Edwards went on TV and boldly lied to protect his image and political standing. Everyone’s got blood on their hands, but at least that shelf life expired in early 2008 and not, say, early 2010.

As both a voter who leans to the left and an American, I am forever grateful that this story broke when it did. After Scott Brown and the apparent death of health care reform and the chorus of boos greeting Obama’s economic policies from people who claim to have the country’s best interests at heart but really just want to get re-elected and have their side back in power, this Edwards thing would have been the death sentence to everything that felt so good about Election Night 2008. The cataclysm would have been tremendous, and heartbreaking.

Thank Joe Pesci for small favors.