What to tell the children...?

In relation to Michaela's post on morality in public life, I wish to offer a few of my own reflections. I came upon an article speaking about how many of our high school students are quite desensitized to the actions of our current and past politicians. The article, from CNN starts:

Gil Rosa's high school students were young children when Bill Clinton's trysts with Monica Lewinsky threatened his presidency.

A decade later, the news that Gov. Eliot Spitzer was caught consorting with high-priced hookers left students in his social studies class largely unfazed.

"My kids are desensitized," said Rosa, who teaches at School Without Walls in Rochester, New York. "They're like, 'Whatever."'

The personal lives of our country's leaders have desensitized our youth to major actions of immorality. I query whether this reality should be playing a larger role in our decision this election year.

Watching the tape of Spitzer speak nationally about his disgraceful actions was sad enough, even more revealing was seeing his wife standing supportively behind him. Watching this reminded me (as did this article) of the unfortunate role that Hillary Clinton took during the impeachment effort of her husband due to his lewd actions with various female associates. In my view, and I feel many people's views, standing by an individual who commits a grave immoral action, supports and at some level condones that action. 

So, I want to reiterate the question posed below, and add to it: How much should a person's personal choices play into their electability and ability to run the United States of America (in relation to moral choices)? and More specifically do we want a President who condones actions that desensitize our youth to the inexcusable moral choices of our leaders?

The rest of the article provides a rather lame (for lack of a better word) effort to prepare parents to speak with their children about prostitution and extramarital relations, as realities their children may be confronted with for the first time these past weeks. It would be nice to live in a world where we are shocked by prostitution rings and Presidential scandals. It would be nice to sleep at night knowing that 5 year old girls are not being sold as sex slaves in Thailand for $5.00 each. However immoral choices are being made that discredit the importance of sexuality in our society and create jaded citizen throughout the world. Can we trust a leader who condones immoral acts of their spouses to work against similar injustices in the world? Hopefully their experiences have transformed their views of these acts, instead of desensitized them to the extreme danger these individuals' acts have upon our society, especially our impressionable youth.