Craig Crawford: Obama Needs to Address Drug Issue

[wyldwolf]

For all the damage that raising Barack Obama’s teenage drug use might inflict upon Hillary Rodham Clinton’s camp, this is not a risk-free matter for him. The Illinois senator and presidential hopeful still ought to assure Democratic voters that he has told all there is to tell, that there is nothing else along these lines that might undermine him as a party nominee.

Throughout the 2000 presidential campaign, George W. Bush managed to dodge detailed questions about his partying past in the same way that Obama's team is now doing – by calling foul against anyone who brings it up. But in the final weekend before the 2000 election a drunk driving arrest surfaced that Bush had never revealed. It almost cost him the race.

Democrats might want to be sure that nothing similar could happen to Obama, but only he can say for certain. And that is the point that Clinton’s now-ousted adviser, Bill Shaheen, so clumsily tried to make in noting that Republicans might well ask loaded questions such as whether Obama had ever dealt drugs.

Shaheen's warning was not theoretical. GOP contender Mitt Romney has already slammed Obama for being a poor role model by openly talking about his drug use with high school students last month in New Hampshire. That might be tame compared to what would be hurled against Obama in a general election battle.

In his 1995 memoir, Dreams From My Father, Obama wrote about his difficult late teens in slang terms likely to rattle some voters. "Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it," he wrote at age 34. "Not smack, though.. . . Junkie. Pothead. That's where I'd been headed."

Obama wrote that drugs were "something that 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."

Although those passages are destined to get a lot of play if Obama becomes the Democratic presidential nominee, most voters will not hold it against him so long as that is all there is to it -- a confused high school kid doing dumb stuff. Obama adviser David Axelrod told reporters on Thursday that Obama only used drugs up until age 20, and that he had not sold drugs or shared them with friends.

But if there is more, best to come clean now. Or give Democrats a firm assurance that they can rest easy on this point.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2007/12/obamas-drug-confessional.html

[Bullet1987]

1. He already has...

Craig Crawford is a Hillary supporter anyway though...

[napi21]

15. You may have heard Obama say that. I have too! BUT we are

a minority of voters who have actually been paying much attention to politics so far too! I happen to agree with Craig on this one. I remember when the Swiftboaters started slamming Kerry for a lot of things in 'Nam. Kerry thought he had answered the questions and that nobody would believe all this BS. I did too! But that was wrong! Watch out for the drum beat folks. It's a sorry statement about the American voter, but true...Repeat something often enough and it becomes accepted as true!

[Bullet1987]

Anybody who's been following the race KNOWS

this already and it's old news to them. That's the point and Craig Crawford knows this...

[napi21]

23. I agree with you, but that's NOT what I said! MOST voters HAVEN'T BEEN

following the race! They're only NOE beginning to pay attention because we are finally getting close enough to Jan/Feb and the voting.

I realize you may think it's just repetative, but I honestly don't see a downside for Obama to "restate" what he has said already.

[Bullet1987]

18. Anybody who's been following the race KNOWS

this already and it's old news to them. That's the point and Craig Crawford knows this...

[sofa king]

27. So the lesson is to cave in to the attack and continually address it?

Bullshit. No, the way it worked was the way this worst President ever did it: don't play the stupid-ass game. Kerry did, and lost. Bush didn't, and got close enough to steal it.

[EV_Ares]

33. They were talking about that this morning. They said he has already

addressed that issue. In his book and earlier on in other instances. Has not been holding anything back.

Think it was on Morning Joe.

[zulchzulu]

2. Read the fucking book, Craig

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

The issue WAS addressed.

[TwilightZone]

6. If fairness, most of the public isn't going to read the book.

Saying "read a book" isn't exactly a solid debate tactic.

Our short-attention-span society would rather see him address it in 30-second chunks on the teevee.

Edit: typo

[zulchzulu]

10. OK...maybe read pages 94-95?

That's where he discusses his drug use IN FUCKING HIGH SCHOOL ferchrissakes...

:boring:

[TwilightZone]

16. My point was that referencing the book won't work with most people.

The drones in TV land require a bit more assertive approach.

[zulchzulu]

22. Do they want the paragraph animated with a bouncing ball?

People who have a brain know this is dirty politics spawn from the frazzled and collapsing Clinton campaign. If anyone has been following the story, they hear that Obama admitted he tried drugs in high school and found a way out of that trap. Obama had made it a point to mention in his book on pages 94-95.

If the "drones in TV land" can't keep up with that story or worse, think that it's an issue that "needs to be addressed" with all the other crap going on these days, then pity on them. Plus, if they are that stupid, they don't vote anyway.

[TwilightZone]

25. You're serious, aren't you?

What percentage of the population reads books with any frequency?

What percentage would actually look up the reference if it were given to them?

"Plus, if they are that stupid, they don't vote anyway."

On that, you are mistaken. The drones most certainly vote, and they vote in high concentrations. Even accounting for vote fraud, roughly 50 million of them voted for Bush in 2000 and roughly 60 million voted for him in 2004.

[Nailzberg]

3. Hey, crawford, public library too far away for you?

Internet down? You living under a rock or something?

[AX10]

4. Strange, just last night Crawford was being hailed for...

his support of Obama's performance, now the Obama crowd hates him again.
:crazy:

[zulchzulu]

7. "the Obama crowd hates him again"...

We call 'em like we see him. If he's an asshole now...then he's an asshole.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

5. Okay, that's the best reason to vote against Obama I've heard yet...

"and that he had not sold drugs or shared them with friends."

What kind of person never shared drugs with his friends?

[rinsd]

9. !!!

"What kind of person never shared drugs with his friends?"

:spray:

I shouldn't laugh but that was funny.

[oasis]

11. That is wierd.

:wow:

[BootinUp]

12. lol nt

[ellacott]

13. lol n/t

[K Gardner]

17. Next attack: Obama is Selfish. Barak Obama claims to want to unite America,

but HRC insiders have found out that when Obama was younger, he refused to share pot with his friends. His friends had no money and could not afford their own. All they wanted was a toke. One toke. Barak was noted to have bogarted several joints in his youth. Is this good for America?

[ClarkUSA]

8. Craig Crawford is such a Clintonian tool... watch for Taylor Marsh, The Left Coaster, Daily Howler

All of Mark Penn's stenographers will follow suit.

Who needs Bill Shaheen when you have clones?

[Franc_Lee]

14. DUer's are taking care of Obama's drug issues, hasn't anyone noticed ?!?

[Tellurian]

19. DU is a convenient investigative tool!

We should let the chips fall where they may.. for better or worse!

[MadBadger]

20. I hope Tweety dick slaps him (Craig Crawford) in the face today.

[Colobo]

21. Craig Crawford is a Clinton guy.

[sniffa]

24. he was a heavy user

rang dang diggity dang dang dang
rang dang diggity dang dang dang

[BeyondGeography]

26. Craig is just trying to keep dope alive

first tell us why this is hurting him with voters and maybe we'll play.

[TwilightGardener]

28. Way to keep it alive, Craig, you Hillary shill.

[Forkboy]

29. I'm psyched to see you guys still trying to play this hand.

[RufusTFirefly]

30. Hey may be articulate and clean. But is he truly drug free?

Or as Al Gore expressed it when discussing his own drug use

"When I was young, I did things young people do. When I grew up I put away childish things."

So Obama used drugs as a teen. So did I. So did many of us from his generation. That's something that truly can be explained as a youthful indiscretion. But what about voting as a grownup to give a mentally unstable tyrant free rein to go to war and then stubbornly refusing to admit your mistake? I'd have serious concerns about the judgment of someone like that.

[jefferson_dem]

31. Crawfish is such a fucking HillShill tool...

Nice try. How about you read the book, buddy.

[stray cat]

32. If Obama had been caught he would be an ex-felon.

His drug use doesn't bother me but I am bothered by the unlucky individuals who get caught with drugs and are forever branded a felon. How can we condemn only the ones that get caught to a life with such reduced options. Can ex-felons be president?

[SoxFan]

34. I think this is yours

[FrenchieCat]

35. Craig Crawford needs to address toupe issue!