Current Release: April 28th, 2009 | Vol. XXX Iss. 10

Politician s family should be off limits

By Heather Templeton

hntempleton@vwc.edu

With approximately eight weeks until Election Day, the media is stepping up their critique of the candidates, and they re making it personal. The candidates personal lives are making front page news. Voters are left wondering if a candidate can t control their family how they will ever control a country?

Sen. Barack Obama spoke on this issue when campaigning in Monroe, Mich. two weeks ago after the media criticized Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin s 17-year-old daughter s pregnancy.

 Let me be as clear as possible: I think people s families are off-limits, and people s children are especially off-limits, Obama said. This shouldn t be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin s performance as governor or her potential performance as a vice president.

Meanwhile, Sen. Obama seems to have the poster-family with a successful wife and two beautiful daughters. What can the media find to pick on him about?

But the real question, is this: Is Sen. Obama right? Should the topic of family be off limits to the media? No, but that down t mean a candidate s method in running a household will foreshadow how they will run a country.

Looking back in history, the candidates families have always been a controversial yet popular issue in American media.

The Bush daughters were criticized for their partying and underage drinking while Chelsea Clinton was often mocked and ridiculed for being an  ugly duckling .

Bristol Palin, Jenna and Barbara Bush, and Chelsea Clinton may all make good headlines in the National Enquirer but what do they really say about their parents and their political policies?

Former President Bill Clinton made mistakes. He admitted to having an affair. However, his policies while in office were still successful for the country. Even after the House of Representative s approved two articles of impeachment his approval rating was at 73 percent.

A presidential candidate is a person just like you and I. They have personal lives, they have families and sometimes mistakes are made. We are all human.

Presidential candidates and all public officials will always have personal and family issues; it s the nature of the beast. Maybe we should consider that the nature of the job creates issues that any family would find challenging and difficult. The question for the media and journalism ethics will always be what part of a person s life is off limits.