Barack Obama and Honesty

At the very least, George W. Bush admits to being a recovered alcoholic. There have been rumors for years that he did cocaine. If ever a man has gotten second chances, it's George W. Bush.

So I'm somewhat puzzled by the reaction to Barack Obama. Here's a remarkably articulate man who has been very upfront about his background. He's an American success story, a kid whose life got turned around, who went on to law school and eventually entered politics and wrote two bestsellers. Here's the story by Lois Romano of The Washington Post:

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. At the time, 20,000 copies were printed and the book seemed destined for the remainders stacks.

Obama, 45, is near the top of polls on potential Democratic presidential contenders, and "Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance" has regularly been on the bestseller lists, with 800,000 copies in print. Taken along with his latest bestseller, "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream," Obama has become a genuine publishing phenomenon.

Obama's revelations were not an issue during his Senate campaign two years ago. But now his open narrative of early, bad choices, including drug use starting in high school and ending in college, as well as his tortured search for racial identity, are sure to receive new scrutiny.

It would be ridiculous if we started applying double standards to Barack Obama. Second chances apply to all Americans, not just some. And it would be ridiculous to forget the cocaine epidemic of the 1970s. The old controversy over whether Bill Clinton 'inhaled' in his youth was ridiculous. For years now, we've listened to Republicans and even some Democrats talk about 'youthful indiscretions' in their thirties and forties and, in a case or two, fifties.

Today, large numbers of Americans insist on putting presidents on pedestals they don't deserve. We need leaders in Washington, with new ideas and fresh perspectives, not public relations illusions (remember that flight suit George W. Bush was wearing on the deck of the Abraham Lincoln the day that banner, Mission Accomplished, was draped behind him? Now that was an illusion).

Barack Obama does not deserve some of the cheap stunts that have been pulled in recent days such as confusing his name with Osama bin Laden. The junior senator from Illinois turned his life around a long time ago and has earned the right to be treated with respect. Whoever is playing games with his reputation should think long and hard about what they're doing.