Family Values

Blog #4 - 3rd Quarter
Life in the spotlight presents many hassles, for some trying to sustain the image of perfection is important while others will do just about anything to stay in the spotlight. For political candidates, how important is it to have idealized lives and family values? It seems as divorce rates have raised, the approval of divorced politicians has as well, however it still seems to have some impact. Rudolph Giuliani career will probably be effected by his divorce because of its other elements (it resulted in estrangement form his son Andrew and daughter Caroline). With his children (now 21 and 17) absent form campaign, the family values could be questioned. While Stephanie Coontz, of the Council on Contemporary Families, believes that people will disapprove of dishonest dynamics, political consultant David Garth believes that the more trouble the country is in, the less focus is on some of the personal things. On the other hand, more applied to the job than the voting tendencies, Larry Sabato political scientist at the University of Virginia said that a messy personal life raises questions of stability, judgment, and ability to govern.
Previous presidents have managed to succeed despite personal conflicts. President Ronald Reagan became president in 1981, about thirty years after divorcing Jane Wyman and marrying Nancy Davis.