Need to Know

In class on wednesday we discussed what the public needs to know about political leaders who represent them. I found myself unsure on where to stand on this issue. both sides had really good points. on the one hand, does it really matter if a political leader like the president has and affair but still carries out his duties as president in a satisfactory way? on the other hand the president is there to represent us as a people and shouldn't we have the right to now if he or she is not representing us in the manner we want, especially morally? To be perfectly honest I still don't know where I fall on this issue. It seems to me that I would be angry to find out someone i voted for turned out to be unfaithful, after all, if someone can't be faithful to their own spouse and respect them, how can I expect the opposite treatment for myself. Yet it has been shown that a president can be unfaithful or morally unsound, or just plain lie to us and still be a good president. FDR constantly lied to the American public in order to maintain the image they had built up of him, and yet he was committed to his job as president and was always concerned with making America better. Perhaps when it comes down to it the people should know everything about their elected leaders, however, it is the responsibility of the media to present a balanced unbiased picture of their leaders, and especially their job to ensure no mob mentality prejudice ensue, like believing that a crippled man cannot lead a country. In other words, it's the job of the media to show us exactly who are leaders are in every aspect, and to let us take that even balanced information and decide whether or not we want them to lead us. The people should always be on a need to know basis with their leaders.