"Obama and Sex Ed for Kids"

Mark Murray (NBC):

Well, we can safely say that this is a new topic in this presidential race... Yesterday's ABC report that Obama favors age-appropriate sex education for even kindergarten students has received a fair amount of play.

Romney, in fact, used it to criticize Obama in a speech he gave yesterday. "I was shocked to hear that he thinks we need sex education in kindergarten," Romney said. "I don't think that's a problem. I don't think that's a need." Romney's campaign even put those remarks on YouTube.

But it seems Romney's criticism might be a bit overblown. The Obama campaign gave this statement to CBN's David Brody: "Barack Obama supports sensible, community-driven education for children because, among other things, he believes it could help protect them from pedophiles. A child's knowledge of the difference between appropriate and inappropriate touching is crucial to keeping them safe from predators."

Brody's analysis: "Obama doesn't want to hand out condoms to five year olds. He doesn't want cucumber demonstrations as part of show and tell. The legitimate reasonable discussion here is whether the federal government and/or local school boards should get involved in providing these five year olds information about inappropriate touching or should it be left up to families only."

Obama spokesman Bill Burton tells First Read: "You can teach a kid about what's appropriate and not appropriate to protect them from predators out there." In addition, he issued a document showing that the Oregon Department of Education has guidelines for sex education for children in grades K-3 (which includes understanding the difference between a good touch and a bad touch), and that the Sexuality Information And Education Council of the United States has curriculum for those in kindergarten.