by Andrea Stickley

Widener University Political Science Major

Since the primaries started a little over two weeks ago, many things have started to come to light in the Republican campaign. With the race between Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum heating up, one would imagine that attention would shift away from the other candidates and focus on the fact that the voting tally keeps changing for those nominees. However, since when does anything the American public do make sense? Instead of focusing on what is important, people seem to care more about trivial matters concerning the candidates.

What people tend to forget is that all these Republican candidates are humans, too. They aren’t perfect and have made mistakes in their pasts. Why they are held to a higher standard doesn’t make any sense. It’s only because they are put in the spotlight do Americans feel they have the right to criticize. Yes, they may one day be running the country, but who cares if they slept with someone other than their wife. It’s happened with presidents in the past and the public was still in love with said president after the scandal subsided. So Gingrich had an affair and likes having sex with women; welcome to the 21st century America. Those actions will almost assuredly have no affect on how he would run the country if elected president.

If this is the case, why is that the breaking news story of the week? Shouldn’t the focus be on the fact that the Iowa caucus has been changing its voting tallies and Santorum is now in the lead, not Romney? Isn’t that more important since it has a direct affect on who will receive the Republican nomination for president? No matter how badly people wish that whoever is elected president be perfect, it isn’t going to happen. Accept the character flaws and move on. Focus on what really matters: the primaries and their results.