Yesterday, John Edwards — who’s not in the running for President anymore — admitted to an adulterous liaison (first whispered about in 2007) that he’s been denying all along. A tabloid newspaper outed him, and now it’s mainstream news.

Personally, I’m in favor of “the French system” as regards the love lives of married politicians. Unless the candidate or officeholder is bedding Mata Hari herself, it’s none of the public’s business. But the American people are at once incurable voyeurs and sanctimonious scolds, and they choose not to make distinctions between the sex lives of married politicians and their ability to be political leaders.

We’re nearing the end of a long presidential campaign in which such momentous issues as the war in Iraq, the troubled economy, health insurance, energy policy, and global warming are up for debate. Given that Americans aren’t about to suddenly turn French, and given the country’s passionate reaction to the Edwards scandal (moral indignation, name-calling, loathing, etc.), the prudent thing for us to do is to find out, immediately, if there’s a question of marital infidelity hovering around either or both of the presumed Presidential candidates.

Right now, John McCain tops the list of possibles. Perhaps we should just say there’s smoke. In a Los Angeles Times article this past month, serious questions were raised about the timing of John McCain’s 1980 separation and divorce from his first wife, Carol, and his romantic involvement with his current wife, Cindy. Simply put, there seem to be unexplained months of overlap, and discrepancies in the court records of McCain’s divorce and his own account of that divorce and his subsequent remarriage 5 weeks later. Isn’t it better to deal with these discrepancies forthwith than to permit ourselves to be shocked and saddened by an October surprise?

The same holds for Obama. If there is something the media knows, or suspects, let’s get it out now.

I’d like to reiterate that my preference would be for Americans to be above wallowing in these matters, and leave them where they truly belong — between individuals. The French, whom we love to hate, were able to watch the funeral of Francois Mitterand, with his widow and mistress and All His Children civilly standing beside one another at graveside, with complete equanimity. Somehow, their country managed to survive Mitterand’s love life.

But we’re Americans, and we should do as Americans do.