As Election Day approaches I cannot stop thinking about one subject that has strangely been left out of discussion as of late. That subject is none other than Barak's admitted drug use. In 2006 he disclosed his history of drug use in Dreams From My Father, a memoir written by a man who obviously never thought he would have a shot at the worlds most important job.
He wrote, "Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it. Not smack, though." (Notice the use of the ultra-rare semicolon, the peyote of punctuation. Have you ever used either? Didn't think so.) Obama opens up his closet and lets us see his skeletons with that quote, but does draw the line at smack.
This is important to the American people. We all know that one must know their own limit. And we functional addicts know that drawing that line is the difference between Marion Barry and Barak Obama. But aside from drawing the line just above the needle, there is another factor that has helped Barack to maintain his squeaky clean image despite the admission. The answer is quite simple; Americans don't read (did you notice that exquisite punctuation? First time for everything). The republicans must assume that because he released this information such a long time ago, that everyone must already know and therefore it’s not worth a mention because it looks desperate. Guess what McCain et al; everyone knows that Barak Obama is black. Yet you continue to remind us, and yes, it does look desperate. But that is okay because this tactic works nonetheless.
This is why I can't understand why Obama's drug use has not been mentioned in every rally, debate, speech, commercial, and anonymously written, hate infused, internet chain letter. We know that one of the things Americans fear and hate is radical Muslim extremists, but a Black guy on coke is perhaps the only thing in this country that would trump that fear and hate. I can already imagine the TV spot. "Can you really justify letting a Black Muslim cokehead run the country your kids live in?" Followed by, "I am John McCain and I approve this message."
Now I know that the talking heads would make a huge deal about the ad calling it classless and exaggerated while chiding the campaign managers who created it. Many people would be up in arms saying that it was only a brief period of his life when he was a confused teen in a broken home. Many would mention that one of our greatest presidents, Bill Clinton, was a confessed pot smoker. All of them would be right, but the ad would still have a dramatic effect. Although we assume that everyone out there has heard of his tomfoolery, the honest truth is that the Republican machine has not reminded the public of this often enough. They continue to tell outright lies to the people while aiming to spread fear, but these lies are transparent to anyone with a shred of common sense. Meanwhile they continue to hold that ace in the hole, not realizing that they actually have a piece of valid information that could prove even more disastrous to the Obama/Biden ticket.
All the while the Obama Juggernaut charges towards the finish line heading towards a landslide as the McCain campaign squanders their last hope of victory. They ought to know, as the public does, once an addict, always an addict (I'm not buying that Obama did "a little blow." You're either on the Charlie or you're not). Addiction is a disease that can't be cured, just contained. And I am amazed that we are not reminded of this more often.
As election day approaches, every day it seems more and more likely that we will have one of our own in the white house. As functional addicts we will always embrace your achievement, Mr. Obama. You have shown us that there is no height we cannot aspire to reach. If 2008's runners up have learned any lesson from Obama's rise, not Palin, but yet another strong woman, will be contending for the presidency in 2012. That woman is Ms. Condoleezza Rice. The republicans should remember one thing when choosing their next candidate: just as the rule holds true for addicts and their vices, it will hold true for the American people and their elected leaders; once you go black, you never go back.
