Public Confessionals or Role Model Leadership

rayb · Hot Air Balloon

Public Confessionals or Role Model Leadership

salesortonscom · Wise and Revered Master

Look at me! I did X, Y, and Z and I turned out fine!!!

arbilad · Head Chef

I think that this is a smoke screen on the part of Obama, really. He wants controversy to be about things like drug use. Many of the people who might vote for him wouldn't have a problem with it anyway. But if he can concentrate controversy on that instead of on things that could potentially derail his candidacy (such as the fact that, at least from a muslim's view, Obama is a fellow muslim), then he can have a much better chance. Theoretically.

rayb · Hot Air Balloon

I honestly think Obama has no chance, simply because his name sounds too much like Osama. And yeah, I think many voters are that shallow. :)

I'm not a huge fan of public confessionals... at least not in the way they're done nowadays...

arbilad · Head Chef

Ray, I agree with you that there are voters who are that shallow. Is it any surprise? When the headlines on the Yahoo home page are almost always entertainment related, how closely do you think that the average voter is following the issues?
It gets worse, too: Obama's middle name is Hussein. It wouldn't be too much of a leap to imagine some group making an issue of that in the election, and voters voting against him because of it.
That's why I think he admitted to drug use. It's easier to focus people's attention on an issue that many democratic voters don't care about anyway than it is to address other liabilities.

rayb · Hot Air Balloon

Well it's no longer taboo to discuss such things, thanks to Clinton. The public feels like they're doing their public servants a big service if some wretched past-deed is exposed and then they get to all do their collective, "Awwwww... we forgive you."

Of course the permissiveness of drug use in my neighborhood is so high that were it such all over the country that it may very well make him more popular.

--Ray

LoudmouthMormon · Profuse Pontificator

Perhaps I'm jaded, but nothing in politics comes from right vs. wrong. It's all "thou shalt get elected" and "thou shalt remain elected."

Obama came clean because:
* If you bring up your dirt first, you can't be accused of trying to hide it.
* Politicians try to shape the conversation, so Obama saw an advantage in throwing this out there, instead of whatever he figured people would talk about otherwise.

LM
[two cent owner]

Randy · Senior Member

When George W. Bush was asked in his first campaign for president, about youthful indescretions. He answered that he would not answer, because what he had done as a youth was nobody's business, and that he would not participate in the politics of personal destruction. He took the right path. He did not lie. He did what he could to prevent people from following his bad example while remaining honest.

I didn't think it would work. I thought that this would finish his candidacy. I'm glad that I was wrong about that.

Randy · Senior Member

And, LM, you were right about Obama's motive. It was mainly to take ammunition out of his opponents' hands. It also makes him look honest, and that's always good for a politician.

It might be good political strategy, but to do so at the expense of being a bad influence on impressionable youth, I would call it crass, cynical, and ugly.

rayb · Hot Air Balloon

It also provides a springboard in which everyone can bring up their baggage and voters can compare... we love baggage... it's so... colorful.

--Ray