Weiner foibles point out bigger problem

The media response to Rep. Weiner returns us to a long-standing problem. Americans expect our politicians not only to do a great job resolving complex political, fiscal and international problems but also to have a perfect family life and to be above reproach.

This is unrealistic. Who is perfect? If someone is putting the public interest before powerful special interests and the need to appeal for funds from them to be re-elected, then that is outstanding! We elect politicians to serve the public interest and not to judge their private lives.

Would we want to repudiate past heroes because of their personal foibles? I remember an outstanding Republican Illinois attorney general — I think Scott was his name — who stood up to US Steel over pollution. Once his love affair became public, he lost everything. The FBI has a file on Richard Nixon’s affair with a woman who may have been a Chinese agent.

Think of presidents John Kennedy, who got us through the Cuban missile crisis, and Delanor Roosevelt, who got us through the depression and World War II. Neither was perfect in his personal life. Each of these important figures would now be hounded out of office for their personal indiscretions.

Dan Bailey

Wheaton