Obama admits to drug, booze and even cocaine use

[ProfJohn]

As a young man Obama was a smart guy who didn?t put much effort into his school. He liked to goof off, chase girls and play basketball.

And then he started drinking and smoking pot and even used coke when he could afford it.

And then something happened during college that made he smartened up and realize that he was wasting his life. He turned his life around and become the success that he is today.

As a young man Bush was a smart guy who didn?t put much effort into school either. Some time after school he started drinking and might have even used other drugs.

And then one day he found god and smartened up and turned his life around.

About the only difference between Obama and Bush is the age at which they faced their crisis. Obama was in his late teens to early 20?s while Bush was nearing 30.

I wonder if all the people who attacked Bush for his problems, dug up the 20 year old DUI, and chased down every allegation of drug use will now do the same thing to Obama. Or will they magically pretend that none of this ever happened?
link

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - Presidential hopeful Barack Obama on Tuesday told high school students that when he was their age he was hardly a model student, experimenting with illegal drugs and drinking alcohol.

Obama stopped by a study hall at Manchester Central High School and answered students' questions about the war in Iraq and his education plan. But when an adult asked about his time as a student, Obama spoke bluntly.

"I will confess to you that I was kind of a goof-off in high school as my mom reminded me," said Obama, an Illinois Democrat who grew up in Hawaii

"You know, I made some bad decisions that I've actually written about. You know, got into drinking. I experimented with drugs," he said. "There was a whole stretch of time that I didn't really apply myself a lot. It wasn't until I got out of high school and went to college that I started realizing, 'Man, I wasted a lot of time.'"

Obama has written about his drug use in his memoir, "Dreams from My Father."

"Junkie. Pothead. That's where I'd been headed: the final fatal role of the young would be black man," Obama wrote. Mostly he smoked marijuana and drank alcohol, Obama wrote, but occasionally he would snort cocaine when he could afford it.

Drugs, Obama wrote, were a way he "could push questions of who I was out of my mind, something that could flatten out the landscape of my heart, blur the edges of my memory."

Obama told students he developed his sense of social justice at college - he attended Occidental College in Los Angeles for two years before transferring to Columbia University in New York. Before he got to Columbia, he said, he lived a naive life.

"I went to high school in Hawaii, so there was a lot of opportunity to goof off because the weather is really good all the time," he said. "I did well in school, but I didn't really apply myself. I did what I needed to do to get into college and it came fairly easily to me."

His biggest interest was in sports and girls.

"I was big on basketball. We were state champs. I thought I was better than I was," said Obama, who finds time on the campaign trail to still play a pickup game.

He then added: "I thought about girls a lot, I won't lie."

During a campaign stop in Chicago, Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani was asked if he thought Obama's comments to the students were appropriate.

"I respect his honesty," Giuliani said.

"One of the things that we need from our people that are running for office is not this pretense of perfection," said Giuliani, who has faced questions about his own personal life marked by three marriages and estrangement from his two children. He said of the candidates, "we're all human beings."

"If we haven't made mistakes, don't vote for us," Giuliani said.

 

[jonks]

If you're comparing the morality of these two men, I think you're gonna have problems.
If you're comparing the intelligence of these two men, I think you're gonna have problems.

Basically, you've got problems.

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn
He liked to goof off, chase girls and play basketball.

Sounds like typical youth to me...

 

[Arkaign]

Wow, I actually agree with Giuliani *shock and general amazement*

"I respect his honesty," Giuliani said.

I don't know what kind of a President Obama would make. I would think he would be miles better than yet another Bush or Clinton.

The big difference between Obama and Bush is the honesty of Obama on the issue. He doesn't hide from it, or pretend it never happened, or cover it up. He just lays it out there for what it is/was.

 

[teclis1023]

I didn't care that Bush used drugs, although I do care that he had DUIs in his past.
I don't care that Obama has used drugs.
I don't care that Clinton got a blowjob, though I lament his scruples.
I don't care that Craig has sex with men, although public bathrooms are hardly the place.

I focus on the issues. Which is exactly the reason that I'm voting for Narmer in 2008.

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: teclis1023
I focus on the issues. Which is exactly the reason that I'm voting for Narmer in 2008.

:laugh:

 

[ProfJohn]

Originally posted by: Arkaign
Wow, I actually agree with Giuliani *shock and general amazement*

"I respect his honesty," Giuliani said.

I don't know what kind of a President Obama would make. I would think he would be miles better than yet another Bush or Clinton.

The big difference between Obama and Bush is the honesty of Obama on the issue. He doesn't hide from it, or pretend it never happened, or cover it up. He just lays it out there for what it is/was.

I think the only reason Obama is able to admit to his past problems is because Clinton and Bush came before him and opened the door so to speak.

It is now far more acceptable that a candidate for President may have had a less than perfect past.

 

[RightIsWrong]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn

Originally posted by: Arkaign
Wow, I actually agree with Giuliani *shock and general amazement*

"I respect his honesty," Giuliani said.

I don't know what kind of a President Obama would make. I would think he would be miles better than yet another Bush or Clinton.

The big difference between Obama and Bush is the honesty of Obama on the issue. He doesn't hide from it, or pretend it never happened, or cover it up. He just lays it out there for what it is/was.

I think the only reason Obama is able to admit to his past problems is because Clinton and Bush came before him and opened the door so to speak.

It is now far more acceptable that a candidate for President may have had a less than perfect past.

I think that there is a lot of truth to what you are saying. I do think that in addition to the breathing room that they created, he is the only one that has been honest enough to own up to his past transgressions saying a lot about his character.

Bush still won't own up to his past. Clinton is running from hers and her husband's. Guilliani is running away from his as is Romney.

If the conservatives were still going to base their vote on morals and integrity as they claimed with Bush, I think that the choice is pretty clear.

 

[Lemon law]

The point is that GWB was a irresponsible prick before he used drugs, a bigger prick while he was using drugs, and now has managed to become an even more arrogant prig and bully now that he has found God and sobriety.

Its still an issue of character and intergity. And GWB never had and never will.

As for Obama, thats another issue we will all have to decide on.

 

[ahurtt]

Maybe it doesn't sound a lot different from Bush but, unlike Bush, at least Obama can still form a coherent sentence.

 

[StageLeft]

wonder if all the people who attacked Bush for his problems, dug up the 20 year old DUI, and chased down every allegation of drug use will now do the same thing to Obama.

No because Bush did so many drugs it's part of his psyche, permanently dulling his intellect. Obama got off lucky.

 

[Rainsford]

Yeah, because "doing drugs" and a DUI are completely the same thing :roll:

There is a difference between doing something stupid that risks your own life vs doing something stupid that risks the lives of others. I honestly don't care if you drink or do (some) drugs, but getting loaded and driving around is a completely different thing. I don't buy into the idea that the President needs to behave like he's the pope, or that he needed to have behaved that way for his whole life. But there are certain things that can't be dismissed as youthful indiscretion or a charming everyman failing. Screwing around on your wife is pretty close to the line, and risking the lives of other people because you have no personal responsibility is way over it.

 

[Fern]

Robert Bork must be pissed off.

I don't know much about the GWB analogy, the Dem-types have always tried to crucify an repub for such activity, whether it be underage gay sex, then support any Dem caught doing it. Searching for any kind of "single standard" is a waste of time, IMO.

I suspect that Obama's candor will pretty much diffuse any problems from these type revelations.

Further, because in h youth he was black/mixed race & fatherless I suspect many will feel that this behavior is more understandable, and his experience in overcoming that path will be both relevant and an inspiration to other black youths.

No matter which candidate made this revelation, it wouldn't affect my vote. I don't see any big deal, other than his honesty.

Rudy's response was good. I thought I heard Romney try to criticize Obama and think that was a bad move.

Fern

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

I wonder if this revelation by Obama about his past was a pre-emptive strike on the dirt that Hillary supposedly had on him?

 

[alchemize]

I think it's great that Obama is forthcoming about this. I think it's great that the Rudester is saying "we're all human". I think it's stupid that Romney is being a good mormon and saying "don't tell the kids about past mistakes! Think of the children!!!!!"

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
I wonder if this revelation by Obama about his past was a pre-emptive strike on the dirt that Hillary supposedly had on him?

Very possible.

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
I wonder if this revelation by Obama about his past was a pre-emptive strike on the dirt that Hillary supposedly had on him?

IIRC, he had already come clean about this in a book. Let me google ..

ah yes :

http://www.newshounds.us/2007/...r_books_admissions.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreams_from_My_Father

Published 1995

 

[WHAMPOM]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn
As a young man Obama was a smart guy who didn?t put much effort into his school. He liked to goof off, chase girls and play basketball.

And then he started drinking and smoking pot and even used coke when he could afford it.

And then something happened during college that made he smartened up and realize that he was wasting his life. He turned his life around and become the success that he is today.

As a young man Bush was a smart guy who didn?t put much effort into school either. Some time after school he started drinking and might have even used other drugs.

And then one day he found god and smartened up and turned his life around.

About the only difference between Obama and Bush is the age at which they faced their crisis. Obama was in his late teens to early 20?s while Bush was nearing 30.

I wonder if all the people who attacked Bush for his problems, dug up the 20 year old DUI, and chased down every allegation of drug use will now do the same thing to Obama. Or will they magically pretend that none of this ever happened?
link

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - Presidential hopeful Barack Obama on Tuesday told high school students that when he was their age he was hardly a model student, experimenting with illegal drugs and drinking alcohol.

Obama stopped by a study hall at Manchester Central High School and answered students' questions about the war in Iraq and his education plan. But when an adult asked about his time as a student, Obama spoke bluntly.

"I will confess to you that I was kind of a goof-off in high school as my mom reminded me," said Obama, an Illinois Democrat who grew up in Hawaii

"You know, I made some bad decisions that I've actually written about. You know, got into drinking. I experimented with drugs," he said. "There was a whole stretch of time that I didn't really apply myself a lot. It wasn't until I got out of high school and went to college that I started realizing, 'Man, I wasted a lot of time.'"

Obama has written about his drug use in his memoir, "Dreams from My Father."

"Junkie. Pothead. That's where I'd been headed: the final fatal role of the young would be black man," Obama wrote. Mostly he smoked marijuana and drank alcohol, Obama wrote, but occasionally he would snort cocaine when he could afford it.

Drugs, Obama wrote, were a way he "could push questions of who I was out of my mind, something that could flatten out the landscape of my heart, blur the edges of my memory."

Obama told students he developed his sense of social justice at college - he attended Occidental College in Los Angeles for two years before transferring to Columbia University in New York. Before he got to Columbia, he said, he lived a naive life.

"I went to high school in Hawaii, so there was a lot of opportunity to goof off because the weather is really good all the time," he said. "I did well in school, but I didn't really apply myself. I did what I needed to do to get into college and it came fairly easily to me."

His biggest interest was in sports and girls.

"I was big on basketball. We were state champs. I thought I was better than I was," said Obama, who finds time on the campaign trail to still play a pickup game.

He then added: "I thought about girls a lot, I won't lie."

During a campaign stop in Chicago, Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani was asked if he thought Obama's comments to the students were appropriate.

"I respect his honesty," Giuliani said.

"One of the things that we need from our people that are running for office is not this pretense of perfection," said Giuliani, who has faced questions about his own personal life marked by three marriages and estrangement from his two children. He said of the candidates, "we're all human beings."

"If we haven't made mistakes, don't vote for us," Giuliani said.

You have compared the worst of Barak to the best of Bush and found them equal? Your style hasn't changed .

 

[manowar821]

He's not hiding it, lying about it, or spending millions to try and erase it illegally. Check-mate.

 

[Tab]

I think I remember an old poster talking about how Bush was very involved with Cocaine; aka he dealt quite a bit. My concern is about that is anyone who deals cocaine is going to have a lot of money invested and with that usually violence follows.

I don't really care that Obama used drugs illegal or not but I think he used them for a much different reason Bush did.

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: manowar821
He's not hiding it, lying about it, or spending millions to try and erase it illegally. Check-mate.

Pretty different from the Bush / Clinton crime families, eh?

Refreshing

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Pabster

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
I wonder if this revelation by Obama about his past was a pre-emptive strike on the dirt that Hillary supposedly had on him?

Very possible.

Although FWIW, the hillary camp claimed that news bit was nonsense and they have nothing.

 

[Tab]

Originally posted by: Rainsford
Yeah, because "doing drugs" and a DUI are completely the same thing :roll:

There is a difference between doing something stupid that risks your own life vs doing something stupid that risks the lives of others. I honestly don't care if you drink or do (some) drugs., but getting loaded and driving around is a completely different thing. I don't buy into the idea that the President needs to behave like he's the pope, or that he needed to have behaved that way for his whole life. But there are certain things that can't be dismissed as youthful indiscretion or a charming everyman failing. Screwing around on your wife is pretty close to the line, and risking the lives of other people because you have no personal responsibility is way over it.

Why does that matter?

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: Pabster

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
I wonder if this revelation by Obama about his past was a pre-emptive strike on the dirt that Hillary supposedly had on him?

Very possible.

Although FWIW, the hillary camp claimed that news bit was nonsense and they have nothing.

Did you read the links? This is *OLD* news, there's no way this was the fake "dirt" that Hillary "had" on Obama. He'd already admitted it IN a BOOK that HE wrote Jeez.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Originally posted by: Arkaign

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: Pabster

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
I wonder if this revelation by Obama about his past was a pre-emptive strike on the dirt that Hillary supposedly had on him?

Very possible.

Although FWIW, the hillary camp claimed that news bit was nonsense and they have nothing.

Did you read the links? This is *OLD* news, there's no way this was the fake "dirt" that Hillary "had" on Obama. He'd already admitted it IN a BOOK that HE wrote Jeez.

There's a difference between Obama admitting it in passing a relatively obscure book and making waves about it as a campaign issue that gets widely disseminated. How many knew prior to Obama's admission that he did those things in his past? Either way, even if he had admitted it long ago this further helps to defuse any potential accusations that might be levied against him by his D or R opponents.