Obama: The First Cokehead President?

Is America ready for that?

Perhaps.

In this era of "true confessions," an admission of almost anything is admirable.

There are just a few things that are unforgivable. Being a child predator comes to mind, or a murderer. There are some exceptions to murder. Murdering your own children, drowning them, is forgivable.

But cocaine use by a lib? No biggie.

It's not only courageous to be honest, it's also easy if the lib media is on your side and not preparing to crucify you.

Obama has that advantage.

His qualifications to occupy the Oval Office are less important than image.

Another plus for Obama -- George Clooney announced during an interview on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno that he finds Obama to be a more attractive candidate than Hillary Clinton. Clooney confides that he's fallen under Obama's spell.

The glitterati find Obama positively enticing.

WASHINGTON -- Democratic Sen. Barack Obama on Tuesday took the initial step in a presidential bid that could make him the nation's first black to occupy the White House.

Obama filed papers creating a presidential exploratory committee, a move he announced on his Web site. He said he would announce more about his plans in his home state of Illinois on Feb. 10.

Is he scheduled to appear on Oprah on February 10?

"I certainly didn't expect to find myself in this position a year ago," Obama said in a video posting. "I've been struck by how hungry we all are for a different kind of politics. So I've spent some time thinking about how I could best advance the cause of change and progress that we so desperately need."

What kind of politics does Obama think we are hungering?

Do we desperately need a president willing to prance around with his shirt off?

Do we desperately need a president who uses more cliches than an NFL player being interviewed after a big game?

Do we desperately need a president who readily admits to his past illicit drug use?

If Obama thinks we're hungry for the extremist lib brand of politics that his scant record as an elected official reveals, I think he's wrong.

Obama, a 45-year-old with little more than two years into his Senate term, is the most inexperienced candidate considering a run for the Democratic nomination. He quickly rose to national prominence, beginning with his keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and his election to the Senate that year, but still is an unknown quantity to many voters.

Two best-selling autobiographies — "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream" and "Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance" — have helped fill in the gaps but have still only touched a fraction of the public.

Nonetheless, he ranks as a top contender. His appeal on the stump, his unique background, his opposition to the Iraq war and the fact that he is a fresh face set him apart in a competitive race that also is expected to include front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

Obama's sounds like a candidate straight out of the imagination of fellow pothead and cokehead Aaron Sorkin, almost too good to be true.

Obama's an underdog AND a front-runner.

Dramatic.

Perfect.

...Obama's announcement was comparatively low-key, banking on the hype building up to his decision to drive the buzz rather than a speech or high-profile media appearance. He was in Washington on Tuesday but did not plan any public appearances.

Obama tried to turn his biggest weakness — his lack of experience in national politics — into an asset by criticizing the work of those who have been in power.

"The decisions that have been made in Washington these past six years, and the problems that have been ignored, have put our country in a precarious place," he said.

"America's faced big problems before," he said. "But today, our leaders in Washington seem incapable of working together in a practical, commonsense way. Politics has become so bitter and partisan, so gummed up by money and influence, that we can't tackle the big problems that demand solutions."

He said Americans are struggling financially, dependence on foreign oil threatens the environment and national security and "we're still mired in a tragic and costly war that should have never been waged."

Obama's announcement can't be considered low-key.

He knew that the drooling libs in the media would run with it. They haven't been this excited since they thought Karl Rove was going to be indicted.

I think it's interesting that Obama's presenting himself as an alternative to the current leadership in Washington. (Note to Obama: Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are leaders.)

He's trying to create a distance between himself and his fellow Dems. That's an illusion. He's saying the same crap that they are. No difference there. Nothing fresh or new.

Barack Hussein Obama was born in 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii, where his parents met while studying at the University of Hawaii. His father was black and from Kenya; his mother, white and from Wichita, Kan.

Obama's parents divorced when he was two and his father returned to Kenya. His mother later married an Indonesian student and the family moved to Jakarta. Obama returned to Hawaii when he was 10 to live with his maternal grandparents.

Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the first African-American elected editor of the Harvard Law Review. He settled in Chicago, where he joined a law firm and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago's Law School. He also helped local churches establish job training programs for residents of poor neighborhoods and organized a major voter registration drive in the 1992 election.

While working at the corporate law firm Sidley Austin in the summer of 1989, Obama met Michelle Robinson, then an associate attorney at the firm. They married in 1992, and have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.

In 1996, he was elected to the Illinois state Senate, where he earned a reputation as a consensus-building Democrat who was strongly liberal on social and economic issues. He backed gay rights, abortion rights, gun control, universal health care and tax breaks for the poor, but set himself apart from others by working with opponents to resolve policy disagreements and refusing to become a rubber stamp for his allies.

Oh my God!

What a story!

What a great guy!

He should be president!

...Obama insisted during the 2004 campaign and through his first year in the Senate that he had no intention of running for president, but by late 2006 his public statements had begun to leave open that possibility.

Last month, he traveled to New Hampshire, the first-in-the-nation primary state, and drew rock-star size crowds to a speech and book signing.

It's Obama-mania!

He's a rock star!

Actually, I think that Obama is positioning himself to be the Dems' vice presidential nominee.

By getting out of the gate early and using the lib media to introduce him to the American people, he'll get the name and face recognition that a freshman senator only two years into his term doesn't have.

In effect, Obama is creating an impression that he's more experienced than he is.

This is a gravitas mission.

He wants to be counted among the political heavyweights.

Taking a page from the John Edwards 2004 playbook, I think Obama is readying himself to be the number two man on the Dem 2008 ticket, with Hillary being the top man.

I don't think Hillary necessarily wants Obama there; but I do think that she's shrewd enough to know that he would help her.

I'm sure she doesn't want him to take the spotlight off of her, and he is. It's something that she'll tolerate it if that's what it takes to get her elected.

Obama-mania would energize people, especially independents, that might be turned off by Hillary. He'd counter her negatives.

I doubt Obama will be the first cokehead president, at least not in 2008.

I do think it's possible that he will be the first cokehead vice presidential nominee.