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Detroit readers might have missed the fascinating similarities between the scandalous pols, revealed in Edwards’ remarkable admission to ABC interviewer Bob Woodruff about the effect of his rapid rise to national prominence:

“All of which fed a self-focus, an egotism, a narcissism that leads you to believe that you can do whatever you want. You’re invincible. And there will be no consequences.”

That might be the most honest statement Edwards has made about himself in years.

And if Kilpatrick were truthful, he’d say the very same thing.

From the time of his election at age 31 in 2001, Kilpatrick treated the mayor’s office as a play space for himself and friends and relatives. Marital infidelity was just the starting point for activities that finally led him into indictments on a slew of criminal charges. Unlike Edwards, he still hasn’t owned up to his misdeeds; but, then, he has more at stake than the demise of a political career. He can go to prison for a very long time.

Kilpatrick’s personal antics and his administrative mismanagement warn against putting too much power in the hands of a mayor. The municipal model in North Carolina might be tilted toward a weak-mayor system, but better that than create a mayoral monster who can fill top jobs with cronies — Detroit’s “deputy mayor” is a Kilpatrick chum never elected to any office — and influence who’s favored with lucrative city contracts.

Long a city in decline, Detroit needs honest, competent leaders who can earn the confidence of investors and entrepreneurs. Instead, until it can get rid of him for good, it’s got a mayor with an inflated sense of entitlement. Early on, he could talk convincingly about his roots in the city, his affinity for its ordinary residents and his desire to solve their problems. But a different pattern of behavior soon emerged, and discerning observers could see that Kilpatrick was really all about serving himself. He won re-election only by a slim margin in 2005, and now his run is just about over.

Edwards, too, for all his compelling rhetoric about caring for others, always seemed to have personal advancement as his first priority. Nothing captured the contradictory aspect of his character so well as his campaign to fight poverty while he was building a mansion, working for a hedge fund, paying $400 for haircuts and using his “poverty center” as a presidential campaign vehicle.

Until now. His apparent devotion to his ailing wife covered an extramarital affair that has yet to be fully explained. Whatever the real truth about the paternity of Reille Hunter’s baby, the reason for Edwards’ secretive recent visit to her Beverly Hills hotel and the purpose for the payments made, Edwards has damaged nothing so much as his own credibility.

Fortunately for Democrats, he’s not their presidential candidate, nor has Barack Obama promised him any position in his administration. Edwards is free simply to disappear from public view, sparing himself and his family further embarrassment. His followers, many in North Carolina, are disappointed or even angry, but he’s not the first politician forced off the stage by his own recklessness.

Detroit has a more serious problem because its mayor is still ruled by ego and narcissism. He won’t go away, it seems, until he’s sent away.

At least it makes good reading in the papers.

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