If you haven't seen the mea culpa, it's worth the minute it'll take to read its 269 words. In my opinion, it's one of the best public apologies ever made (go to www.onwardstate.com).
There's admission of the mistake, without blame-shifting. There's acknowledgment of the pain it caused (not "might have caused," as half-baked apologies go). There's promise of future "caution, restraint and humility." And there's significant consequences for Edwards himself.
" . . . I will be stepping down from my post as Managing Editor, effective immediately," he wrote. "I take full responsibility for the events that transpired tonight, and for the black mark upon the organization that I have caused."
Edwards sounded so sincerely anguished, so willing to own the hot mess he'd cooked, I was practically cheering for him by the time he ended his note with a plea not for forgiveness, but understanding.
It's rare that we hear a perfect apology. The "non-apology apology" of former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer comes to mind, in which he acted noble for resigning from the office he disgraced by hooking up with a prostitute.
In contrast, the mea culpa of Edwards, a 21-year-old political-science and sociology major who will graduate in June, ought to be called "the anti-Spitzer."
"I think Edwards did a great justice to Onward State," says public-relations and crisis-management expert Jeff Jubelirer, whom I called for a gut-check about Edwards (who declined to comment for this column). "Over time, I think the site might become even more popular than it was before all of this."
Jubelirer, a Penn State grad, has followed Edwards' blog postings for about a year and is a fan of his insightful writings.
