OK, I’m hopping mad and need to say so. I’ve never written a “rant diary” but feel the need to tonight.
What’s gotten my blood boiling? This article in the Washington Post. Its by Lois Romano and here’s the whole title: “Effect of Obama’s Candor Remains to Be Seen: Senator Admitted Trying Cocaine in a Memoir Written 11 Years Ago.
And here’s the opening paragraphs:
Long before the national media spotlight began to shine on every twist and turn of his life’s journey, Barack Obama had this to say about himself: “Junkie. Pothead. That’s where I’d been headed: the final, fatal role of the young would-be black man. . . . I got high [to] push questions of who I was out of my mind.”
The Democratic senator from Illinois and likely presidential candidate offered the confession in a memoir written 11 years ago, not long after he graduated from law school and well before he contemplated life on the national stage.
Then the article goes on to discuss whether this admission will be a political liability for Obama if he runs for president. What a load of crap!!
I read this book in 2004 after Obama’s speech at the Democratic convention and marvelled at his openess and honesty. His drug use happened in high school and college when he was struggling to put together an identity. It is a powerful and moving story. Here’s an example of what he wrote that’s quoted in the article:
“We were always playing on the white man’s court . . . by the white man’s rules,” he writes. “If the principal, or the coach, or a teacher . . . wanted to spit in your face, he could, because he had the power and you didn’t. . . . The only thing you could choose was withdrawal into a smaller and smaller coil of rage.
“And the final irony: should you refuse this defeat and lash out at your captors . . . they would have a name for that too. Paranoid. Militant.”
Now that’s putting the straight talk out there for everyone to see. Obama lives this kind of life, uses drugs temporarily during this time of confusion. But the story doesn’t end like it has for too many young black men in this counrty. He overcomes and goes on to contribute powerfully to his community and country. We should all be holding him up as a model and thanking him for his courage.
Instead, take a look at what the IDIOTS at Faux and Friends have to say. What a bunch of loosers.
Because of the kind of work I do, I know there are thousands of young black men in this country who need to hear Obama’s story. They need to hear the hope that he demonstrates to them. And the courage. These smearmongers better keep their hands off this one!!
ENOUGH ALREADY.
