Expect more of this
Nice little story about Obama today in the New York Times, the thrust of which seems to be that Obama may have lied about his youthful experiences with drugs, although in a very different way than that's usually meant.
Years later in his 1995 memoir, he mentioned smoking “reefer” in “the dorm room of some brother” and talked about “getting high.” Before Occidental, he indulged in marijuana, alcohol and sometimes cocaine as a high school student in Hawaii, according to the book. He made “some bad decisions” as a teenager involving drugs and drinking, Senator Obama, now a presidential candidate, told high school students in New Hampshire last November.
Mr. Obama’s admissions are rare for a politician (his book, “Dreams From My Father,” was written before he ran for office.) They briefly became a campaign issue in December when an adviser to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Mr. Obama’s chief Democratic rival, suggested that his history with drugs would make him vulnerable to Republican attacks if he became his party’s nominee.
. . .
Mr. Obama’s account of his younger self and drugs, though, significantly differs from the recollections of others who do not recall his drug use. That could suggest he was so private about his usage that few people were aware of it, that the memories of those who knew him decades ago are fuzzy or rosier out of a desire to protect him, or that he added some writerly touches in his memoir to make the challenges he overcame seem more dramatic.
Apparently being unable to make any attacks stick about his past drug use since he already admitted to them and put them out in the open, we're now supposed to doubt him because he may not have used drugs enough.
It's a weird world we live in.
In any case, there are nastier narratives out there, and I expect we'll see them more often if Obama continues to do well in the nomination race. This one is a good example of the depths some people are willing to sink to.
To me, it's like you are all voting for Obama because of some unexplainable aura he exudes. Everyone is swooning over this almost mysterious attraction he exudes. "Electric" is another word I have been hearing. Call it what you will; let's just call it his innate charisma.
I understand that some of you are voting for Obama for reasons other than his charisma. But, as I watch the size of your group swell before my very eyes (literally every refresh shows another five to ten more supporters) I am becoming more alarmed by your thought processes, and less convinced that you know what an Obama presidency will actually look like.
History shows that it was exactly this kind of thinking which allowed charismatic leaders like Adolf Hitler to take power. Extreme? For sure. But, it is a relevant comparison when looking at large groups of people being swayed to act for all the wrong reasons.
. . .
Sadly (for Obama) it all comes down to the race. As much as Obama would like to believe that race is no longer an issue for us voters, it absolutely is an issue, and may even be the source of his charismatic power. Let's play a pretend to see how it works. Pretend that Barack Obama is white. Imagine a white, mostly inexperienced junior senator from Illinois with the exact same ideas and speeches.
Does it have the same effect? Imagine a lanky white candidate with the exact same rhetoric and the exact same calls for "change." Is the image as powerful? Does he seem as attractive to you? Are you even listening?
Barack Obama is able to compensate for his lack of experience by being black. And to me this is a shame, because I think there were a handful of highly qualified Democrats with betters ideas and a whole lot more experience who were out-dazzled by Obama's race.
The smear that he's only got this far because of his skin colour, plus a comparison to Hitler, all in one post.
Sadly, (for us), I expect to see and hear a lot more of this.
