Political sex scandals, it seems, are always in the news.

Last weekend, Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu, known as a staunch opponent of illegal immigration, confirmed that he was gay after shirtless photos of him appeared on a homosexual dating website. Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain was forced to drop out of the race after he was accused of sexual misconduct by four women and of having an affair with another. Twice, Newt Gingrich has divorced from his wife for not being faithful.

And, now, another book has been published on the extramarital dalliances of President John F. Kennedy.

That he had committed adultery was not much of a shock; indeed, his infidelities are a part of the Kennedy mystique. What was different in this case was the details.

Mimi Alford, a White House intern during the Kennedy administration, in her recent memoir “Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with President John F. Kennedy,” doesn’t just tell a tawdry tale of a glamorous president whose proclivity to pretty women is well known. What she had to say about the president makes him look, well, rather creepy.

He took her virginity in “Mrs. Kennedy’s room” while she was away. He forced her to try a drug that purportedly enhanced sex. He pushed her to commit sexual acts with a presidential aide.

This was certainly not as glamorous as Marilyn Monroe.

What are we to make of JFK’s extramarital activities? He is not alone in doing such things.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, routinely polled as one of America’s top three presidents along with Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, carried on affairs with women throughout his marriage. He was even with one of the women on the day he died.

Thomas Jefferson was famously accused of having an affair with his slave, Sally Hemings. Bill Clinton endured sex scandals all the way back to his days as the governor of Arkansas. Some conservative Republicans even felt trepidation for voting for the previously divorced Ronald Reagan.

All this raises the question: Should our presidents be completely faithful to their wives?

On the surface, it appears that it is merely tangential as to whether a man is a good president or not. What a man does in his private life, the argument goes, has nothing to do with how well he governs the country.

Admittedly, past transgressions cannot, ipso facto, preclude one from pursuing their chosen occupation, be it an occupation in construction or the job opening as leader of the free world.

However, are we really prepared to say that a man’s character matters not a whit?

After all, infidelity is an act of betrayal; the bonds of marriage are meant to hold a couple together “’till death do us part.”

If one would be so willing to betray another he claims to love, how could that man be trusted to faithfully serve the people of an entire country?

Does character not count for anything?

Fidelity does not guarantee a good president ”” Jimmy Carter can attest to that. Presidents have done and will do many good things though they have apparent moral failings.

But we, as a people, should still be uncomfortable with a leader willing to cheat on his wife.

Tony Petersen is the opinion editor of The Collegian. Follow him on Twitter @tonypetersen4.