Last night on 60 minutes Barack Obama confessed to the use of cocaine and marijuana:
In his book, he wrote that when he was in high school and in college he smoked marijuana and inhaled. He also wrote that he did a little “blow”—as he put it—when he could afford it.
Asked to explain why he did that, Obama says, “Well, you know, I think it was typical of a teenager who was confused about who he was and what his place in the world was, and thought that experimenting with drugs was a way to rebel. It’s not something that I’m proud of.”
But the senator says he does not regret being so candid. “You know, I don’t. I mean, I think one of the things about national politics is this attempt to airbrush your life. And it’s exhausting, right, you know. ‘This is who I am. This is where I’ve come from.’ And you know, if we have problems in this campaign, I suspect it’s not gonna be because of mistakes I’ve made in the past. I think it’s gonna be mistakes that I make in the future,” he tells Kroft.
In 2000, George W. Bush was plagued with questions about alleged Cocaine use. And of course, who can forget Bill Clinton’s quasi 1992 admission that he had smoked marijuana, but not inhaled?
So the big question is- do you care if your President or presidential candidate used drugs in the past?
We’ll read the best responses on the air tonight.
No, as long as it’s in the past. We would lose out on many otherwise qualified candidates if we exclude everyone who has tried pot in his youth.
In the future, those few candidates who have not done drugs will wish they had because voters will hold that against them.
Voters in the future will not identify with candidates who have never done drugs. The future is probably already here in this regard.
Candidates that have had problems in their lives will be punished by some voters. But Americans are actually very forgiving people. We generally don’t mind giving someone a second chance.
The real test of whether voters will punish a candidate for past unfavorable behavior is not necessarily the behavior itself, but the candidate’s current attitude regarding it.
Democrats don’t care if a Democrat did drugs, and Republicans don’t care if a Republican did drugs.
Craig,
Truer words were never spoken!