NH Union Leader: The Politics of Dope- Obama comes clean

[Colobo]

AT MANCHESTER'S Central High School on Monday, Sen. Barack Obama admitted to students in a study hall that as a teenager he was a "goof-off," a drinker and a drug user. He was right to be so candid.

"You know, I made some bad decisions that I've actually written about," Obama said. "You know, got into drinking. I experimented with drugs. 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.'"

Mitt Romney, whose past is so clean his autobiography has been known to actually disinfect the books next to it, criticized Obama's statements.

"It's just not a good idea for people running for President of the United States who potentially could be the role model for a lot of people to talk about their personal failings while they were kids because it opens the doorway to other kids thinking, 'well, I can do that too and become President of the United States,' " Romney said. "I think that was a huge error by Barack Obama . . . it is just the wrong way for people who want to be the leader of the free world."

Mitt Romney is a great role model for children who have yet to succumb to the temptations of addictive behavior. But for self-doubting teens who have already stumbled, identifying with someone so gleamingly unblemished is difficult.

With his admission, Obama is able to show teens who already have made bad decisions that there is life after drinking and drug use -- as long as they stop.

Inner city Manchester is home to far too many kids who already have started down the path of self-destruction. With his candor, Obama may have given them hope and a reason to clean up. His example is just what some of those kids need. We are grateful he chose to level with them and not feed them lies through which they would easily have seen. It is important that these teens hear from someone who was once like them that it is not too late to turn their lives around.

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