Necessary Roughness

Senator Barack Obama, Democratic presidential candidate, has admitted that he tried drugs as a teen, AP writes. The same day, Fox News reports that Rudy respects Obama’s honesty.

Gone, I suppose, are the days when Bill Clinton felt the need to deny he inhaled pot and when President Bush had to feel shame about previous alcoholism.

It seems I would make a terrible presidential candidate before people even got to hear my political views. Traffic misdemeanors do not an exciting campaign make.

But what about this confession as asset thing? Is it an attempt to give the electorate someone to identify with? Could we please admit none of these politicians, who by necessity had serious political ambition, are nothing like us?

We cannot project our thoughts and wishes onto these people and trust that they will do the right thing by us. We have to force them to nail their governing principles down and then decide whether or not we like their principles.