Rivals Weigh in on Obama's Drug Confession

Camelot has long since fallen as an archetype of American presidential politics. In the modern era of darkly-romantic, brooding anti-heroes (even Superman is now a flawed and confused sod, late on his child-support payments and tangled up in a scandalous love triangle), mere presidents are not required to have always been exemplary citizens.

As such, Barack Obama spoke to high school students on Tuesday (video here) about his abuses of cocaine, marijuana and alcohol, as well as his lackadaisical academic pursuits as compared to his preoccupation with sports and women. In good existential prose, Obama has previously written that drugs were a means by which to "push questions of who I was out of my mind."

GOP rivals have already issued insightful responses to Obama's confession.

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Whereas the thrice-divorced, affair-prone Rudy Giuliani has praised Obama's honesty and chided Americans who expect a "pretense of perfection," squeaky-clean Mitt Romney has expressed disapproval of a potential role-model easing the way for kids to follow in a destructive path:

"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 told an Iowa audience today. "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."

Obama's decision to speak about his skeletons is likely a politically-driven necessity - if he doesn't say it, someone else will, and then it might become a scandal. The issue of substance abuse was not raised as a serious matter in the last elections, as all candidates involved has reason to avoid the subject. Thus, President Bush's bouts with alcoholism were left relatively undisturbed during his presidential campaigns and he was never forced into a Sister Souljah moment.

A contender such as Mitt Romney might change that dynamic and bring such details to the forefront during a debate on character and judgment.

Obama's confessions should be received with somber reflection. Although repentance is a laudable decision, rehab and re-invention are not corollaries of fortitude and perseverance. Public reconciliations have always borne a suspect character, and people ought to be held accountable for their transgressions, not praised for their willingness to share stories of those transgressions.

And remember, we've yet to hear the reaction of Obama's fellow Democratic rivals. Their well-crafted statements are sure to reveal more about themselves than their opinions on Sen. Obama.