An Affair to Remember?

I have attended several weddings this year (and last). A fair number of my friends are now married and I have watched most of them stand up in front of friends and family and take the vows of a lifetime. I have witnessed as they fell in love and chose a partner (and even as some have reproduced - eek!). We've all formed families of our own choosing, with our own unique signature. A lot of my friends are in science - we are apparently the "educated elite" that was so reviled in this past election (good God, no! not a smart president!). We are or will be significant contributors to society and most of us will hold pretty powerful positions. We are all driven and determined and many of us have put off having a family in order to pursue a career. To each his own. What I am not understanding is this connection between holding positions of power and cheating on your spouse. For one, how long are you going to be in said elected position? Seriously, Bill, can you keep it in your pants for 8 years? It's not that long? Do you have to go AWOL, fly to Argentina to get laid? Really? Hire a prostitute? WHILE IN OFFICE? I realize, people have sex drives and egos and that not all marriages last forever. I realize that sometimes you don't think and you make mistakes and you need to apologize. I get that. What I don't get is the forethought part of it. If you are so calculated as to have reached a position of power (trust me, it's a long hard climb), don't you examine your priorities? Your actions? Watch your steps? Don't you know that people are depending on you? Looking up to you, even? Do you think about that? Have you seen others fall? Have you learned from their mistakes?
I realize that nobody's perfect, that people living in the public eye might have it harder than I do. I'm just disappointed and disgusted. I have no idea how this affects a family and a career and a life. I just feel like this betrayal is so prevalent - and I'm sorry, but a PRESS conference to announce it? Oh, you are so full of yourself. How about doing YOUR JOB - showing up on a daily basis and letting people know where you are? Is responsibility that hard?
I guess I'm an idealist. I just hope that all my friends' marriages and relationships are built on more steady ground than these peoples'.
getting off my soapbox now...