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He Inhaled

February 12, 2007 3:11 AM

arack Obama has admitted that he smoked pot--and inhaled. He even admitted that he did cocaine "when he could afford it." And he even admitted that he considered using heroine. You can see the 60 Minutes video by going here and clicking on the "He Inhaled" link.

My immediate reaction is that I respect his candor and honesty. I especially respect the fact that he made the disclosures some time ago in one of his books. Thus, although he was almost certainly aware that he might one day run for the presidency, the move doesn't seem as purely political as it might otherwise.

But the question remains: is this a smart thing for Mr. Obama to do? I'll say this--it's definitely smarter than half-assing the admission. Why is the link to the video titled "He Inhaled" if not to poke fun Bill Clinton's "I did but I didn't" moment? Say what you will about Mr. Clinton, but that was a blatant lie and everyone knew it. The fact that he even attempted to pull that off suggests either that he's incredibly stupid or incredibly ballsy.

But I digress . . .

Yes, I like the fact that Mr. Obama's admitted his past drug use. First, he must have known that there was a reasonable likelihood that it was going to come out during the campaign. At least this way, it's on his terms; he controls the spin. He can cast it in as positive a light as possible, and that's definitely what he's done.

Second, it furthers the image he's been trying to create. He's trying to be (and, in my opinion, succeeding at being) a very sincere, up front guy. He's giving off this air of being amazingly competent while admitting his flaws and mistakes. I think it makes him look humble, and that's a nice contrast to Hilary--all of her attempts to look humble and every-dayish have come off as false and insincere.

Third, it probably endears him to as many voters as it loses him. Yeah, there are probably some people who will refuse to vote for Mr. Obama on the basis of his prior drug use, but those people were probably unlikely to vote for him in the first place. And, besides, I don't think it's particularly reasonable to exclude someone from consideration for the presidency based solely on a few minor acts of indiscretion in early adulthood. On the other hand, a fair number of voters might be drawn to Mr. Obama's sincerity and honesty, as I've been.

Of course, there are risks. This sort of admission could easily be turned against him. You can see the right-wing political cartoon now (it would involve a caricature of Mr. Obama smoking pot while in the Oval Office or something). Ultimately, though, I don't think it's that big of a deal (a lot of people have smoked pot), and I think the benefits are worth the potential pitfalls.

So, as of right now, my favorite Democratic nominee is Mr. Obama, hands down.

Still, I wish the candidates would start talking about, you know, policy and substance.



2 Comments


tRJ said:

Well, the right-wing folks who would take him to task for drug use were never going to vote for him in the first place.

February 12, 2007 8:34 AM



Lawnut said:

I totally love Obama, and he has my vote already. I mean, in this day and age, there aren't really that many people who have not smoked pot out there in this country - so it seems kind of ridiculous to bring it out in a negative light in the first place, but it's an even smarter move to put it out there before it can be made part of his inevitable smear campaign.

February 12, 2007 9:11 AM



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