Pompo

Clinton Apologizes to Obama For Shaheen's Drug Comment
12/12/07|Washington Post| by Alec MacGillis

CONCORD, N.H. -- Despite a face-to-face apology from Sen. Hillary Clinton on an airport tarmac, the Barack Obama campaign today did its best to turn to its advantage remarks by a top Clinton supporter who said yesterday that Sen. Obama's admissions of past drug use would "open the door" to Republican attacks if he is the Democratic nominee.

At a press conference here, Ned Helms, a co-chairman of Obama's New Hampshire campaign, lamented the comments by Clinton state co-chair Billy Shaheen. In an interview yesterday with the Post, Shaheen said he worried that Republicans would have a field day picking apart Obama's past, notably his admissions of cocaine and marijuana use in his late teens. "The Republicans are not going to give up without a fight...and one of the things they're certainly going to jump on is his drug use," Shaheen said.

The Clinton campaign disassociated itself from the comments last night, saying they were "not authorized or condoned by the campaign in any way." Shaheen, the husband of former governor and 2008 Senate candidate Jeanne Shaheen, said in a statement, "I deeply regret the comments I made today and they were not authorized by the campaign in any way." This morning, Clinton approached Obama on the tarmac of Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington to personally apologize for the remarks. "She made it clear that this kind of negative personal statement has no part in this campaign," said Clinton spokesman Phil Singer.

But Helms told reporters here that the remarks fit a larger pattern of negative attacks and insinuations from the Clinton camp, including an incident last week in which a Clinton volunteer county coordinator in Iowa forwarded an incendiary e-mail falsely asserting that Obama is a Muslim (the Clinton campaign asked the volunteer to step down). With each incident, Helms said, it has became harder to believe that the individuals were acting without any direction from above.


"I suppose you could say, well, the first time, that's what happened," said Helms. "But when you see a pattern, of people making statements and then the follow-up statement, that that wasn't authorized, it doesn't take a genius to see that there's a thread going on here. How many times are we going to see the isolated incident followed by the denial before we just simply say, 'Would you please stop?'"

Helms stopped short of calling for Shaheen's removal from his leadership post on the Clinton team, saying that "is a conversation that needs to take place within the Clinton campaign."

Obama's national headquarters also sought to capitalize on the Shaheen comments, with campaign manager David Plouffe sending out an e-mail asking supporters to counter the remarks with a $25 donation from 5,000 of them. "In an increasingly desperate effort to slow Senator Clinton's slide, the focus of the Clinton campaign has moved from Barack Obama's kindergarten years to his teenage years," Plouffe wrote, referring to the Clinton campaign's inclusion in a campaign document of a kindergarten essay by Obama declaring his presidential ambitions. "The only way to stop these kinds of tired, desperate attacks is to demonstrate very clearly that they have a real cost to Senator Clinton's campaign."

In his remarks, Shaheen, a local attorney and Democratic powerbroker, said he was worried that Republicans would have a particularly easy time going after Obama's drug use as a teenager because he has been so open about it. He contrasted this with George W. Bush, who Shaheen said wisely ruled out answering questions about his behavior as a younger man during his presidential run in 1999 and 2000.

Obama's candor on the subject, on the other hand, would "open the door" to further questions, Shaheen said. "It'll be, 'When was the last time? Did you ever give drugs to anyone? Did you sell them to anyone?'" he said. "There are so many openings for Republican dirty tricks. It's hard to overcome."

Obama has been free about discussing his drug use as a young man. In his 1995 memoir, Dreams From My Father, written shortly after he graduated from Harvard Law School, he wrote that during his difficult late teens "Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it. Not smack, though."

"Junkie. Pothead. That's where I'd been headed: the final, fatal role of the young would-be black man," he wrote. "Except the highs hadn't been about that, me trying to prove what a down brother I was....I got high for just the opposite effect, something that could push questions of who I was out of my mind, something that could flatten out the landscape of my heart, blur the edges of my memory."

And speaking with high school students in Manchester, N.H. a few weeks ago, he said that he had "made some bad decisions" as a teenager. "There were times when I, you know, got into drinking, experimented with drugs. There was a whole stretch of time where I didn't really apply myself a lot," he said. But once in college, Obama said, he realized, "Man, I wasted a lot of time" in high school. He added, "It's not something I'm proud of. It was a mistake as a young man."

Shaheen's comments inevitably renewed memories of Bill Clinton's handling of his past marijuana use during the 1992 campaign, when he said he had smoked marijuana but did not inhale. Asked about this at the Manchester high school, Obama said, "I never understood that line. The point was to inhale. That was the point."

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Pompo

Clinton Adviser Resigns Over Obama Comments
12/13/07|WMTW - Channel8| ABC News Report

CONCORD, N.H. -- Bill Shaheen has resigned as co-chairman of Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign, reported WMUR-TV in Manchester, N.H.

The resignation comes in the midst of fallout over comments Shaheen made regarding candidate Barack Obama's past drug use.

Shaheen earlier said he regrets having made the comments.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Shaheen said the Democratic party should beware of picking Obama as its candidate because Republicans could dredge up his past.

In his memoir, "Dreams from My Father," Obama wrote that as a teen he smoked marijuana and drank alcohol, and occasionally would snort cocaine.

The Clinton campaign said it had nothing to do with the comments, and Shaheen himself is now backing away from them.

The Obama campaign called the remark a sign of desperation because of Clinton's slide in the polls.

In Iowa, Democratic presidential rival John Edwards said he wants "nothing to do with that kind of politics."

Buzzby

This is completely disingenuous. I've participated in many campaigns and know from experience that there are thousands of volunteers, each of whom has the opportunity to voice his own viewpoint. Out of those thousands, it's inevitable that some will make statements that don't fit in with the campaign's central position.

The difference today is that there are reporters and campaign hacks so desperate to find something to write about that they'll seize on these random missteps and fabricate a conspiracy. This has nothing to do with presenting relevant news. It has everything to do with selling advertising and making the opposition look bad.

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dedbr

I'm leaning towards Edwards as far as a hopeful......

Can't see the other two making a difference........


Some Where In Ded Land............

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mchlwrrn

I've also worked directly with many campaigns, most notably John Kerry in 2003-2004, and have seen several times where information was "leaked".
Most times, it was an order from "above".
We had the internet then too.

MasterCylinder

You can bet your paycheck that the GOP will use Obama's past drug dealing and use to their advantage. Obama's campaign group would have to be living in LaLa-land to believe otherwise. If you thought the Swift Boat Vets group was bad, wait till you see Obamas Drug Dealers for America group.

Chinopants

I commend Obama for his honesty and his lust for life, I don't realy trust some one who fears and condems others for there past. we were all once younger and you can not realy grow if you do not make mistakes. Hes is realy trying to make a diffrance on this country, and the US needs alot or reworking. I hope he realy trys to free up non violent drug offenders from our jails. It just sucks up to many resources and is very unfair to thows cought up in its web.

JohnBoySmoker

Why was it wrong to state the obvious? If Barak has admitted to using all kinds of drugs, then why would anyone not think that the GOP wouldn't use that as a weapon against him? I think the sensitivity police are out in force when it comes to Barak.

joshpackr

From where I sit the U.S. is pretty much screwed in the '08 election. I wouldn't dare vote for Clinton or Obama for a number of reasons and I believe McCain would just end up being a continuation of the Bush administration, which I don't think the U.S. could survive 4 more years of.

blondie0420

I agree with what Chinopants was saying about not trusting someone who fears and condemns others for their past. It's over and done with, and I'd much rather have someone like Obama in office - who can be honest about things he did that he feels were mistakes - rather than someone who would lie about it.

I mean, look at George W. Bush. He lied about using cocaine and who doesn't know about it now? Did lying really help him in any way? Absolutely the contrary, it destroyed his reputation even more than it would have if he had just told the truth.

When people catch someone, especially a politician, in a lie, there is a tendency for people to say, "Well if he lied about x, y and z, what else did he lie about?" I feel like we need to appreciate when our politicians tell the truth about something that may be difficult for them to admit, rather than condemn them for it, because we need to make it clear that we want people in office who are HONEST and who are willing to do something that is difficult simply because it is the right thing to do. Incidents like these just give the impression that we'd much prefer if politicians just lied to us, which I hope to God isn't what the American people really want.

And furthermore, how many Americans HAVEN'T played around with drugs at some point in their lifetime, especially during their teenage years and 20s? You know, seriously. Is a little bit of coke and booze really something to get so worked up over in this day and age? Ohmigod, so Obama is a real, live, breathing human being. Big Fucking Deal.

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