at least he didn’t snort pepsi
by Sandra Kinne
Published: January 1, 2008
As my friends will attest, I’ve been flooding their in-boxes with all sorts of article and stories about Election 2008. It took me a little while, but after months of thought and reading and reading and reading some more, I finally got behind Barack Obama, and I haven’t let my friends forget it. The flurry of forwards they get before 9 a.m. remind them. It’s to the point where I think they’re going to vote for Rudy Giuliani just to make me mad.
While most of the article-forwarding and ensuing discussions have been along the lines of “Why Obama is so great,” the new shift in focus to his old habits from his new BFF Oprah has highlighted a legitimate flaw and potentially damaging issue for the general election. From Hillary Clinton’s New Hampshire co-chairman Billy Shaheen, to respected newspaper columnists, to the candidate himself just last month in the Granite State, the issue of Obama’s drug use has become more of a hot-topic than Britney’s custody battle. Rather than focus on the negative of his admission, I think we should focus on the positive: He actually admits to using drugs.
George W. allegedly did some coke, and he is a recovering alcoholic who still has beers at German state visits. Yet, this week was the first time in years he’s even addressed it publicly. Bush seldom talks about it; he rarely acknowledges it. Bill Clinton said he tried pot but didn’t inhale. We should have known then his parsing of words would come back to bite us Democrats. Not only did he get the country thinking about the definition of “is,” he repeatedly hid and tried to cover up his extramarital affairs. Republican after Republican seems to be hiding the fact they’re gay or an adulterer or a gay adulterer.
It’s refreshing to see someone admit to and share his mistakes and acknowledge the desire to have done things differently. Rather than deny it, come out with some lame press release after it was on the CNN ticker or go negative — though he still may, but I doubt it — Obama openly admitted to the drug use. Sure, it was in a book long before he was in the national spotlight, but it was only a year before he became a state senator. It’s not like he didn’t harbor political ambitions before writing the book.
So Obama did a little coke. C’mon. It was the early 1980s, and he lived in Southern California and New York City. I think it’d be a bigger story if he didn’t do some blow. (Bright Lights, Big City? Blow? Anyone?) It’s not like most people in the pre-GenX crowd (what are they called anyway, post-Baby Boomers? Hippie offspring?) or the Gen X crowd haven’t tried something they knew they shouldn’t. Acid at a rave? Jello shots at frat party your first week in college? Pot at a “Take Back the Night” planning meeting?
I mean, besides me.
Minus two traffic/moving violations, I’ve lived a clean life. Clean here means boring, by the way. Vicarious living through my friends is my preferred lifestyle. But Obama isn’t me, and he isn’t you. He isn’t anyone but himself, and it’s a nice change of pace to see a prominent politician acknowledge his mistakes. And yes, my friends will get this in their inbox, too.
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Janice Peterson’s thoughts on Barack’s drug use: “presidential vices“
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