When Obama was growing up in Indonesia, he broke a boy's arm while they were riding a bike together. Apparently, the accident was the result of a "tickle fight."
From New York Magazine:
After canceling his trip to Indonesia this week, President Obama tried to make up for it by gamely sitting down for an interview with Indonesian news network anchor Putra Nababan. At the end, Obama was tossed a range of softballs about his time growing up in the country (e.g. "Is it true you used to tease your female classmates to get their attention?"). Then, out of nowhere, Nababan came at the president with: “Do you remember breaking someone’s arm?”
“Yes, I do,” Obama responded, after a brief pause. “We were riding a bike together. And he fell. I was very traumatized. We fell on the bike. Please tell him that I apologize. I felt so bad. I remember feeling terrible."
While our initial reaction was surprise that whoever this victim was hasn’t tried to cash in with an OK! magazine interview or something, we were even more intrigued when we noticed on a second viewing that Nababan murmured something about a "tickle fight" causing the accident. Of course. Just when it seemed like there might be something even vaguely scandalous lurking in Obama’s past, it somehow turns out to be just another adorable anecdote.
Just to point out--
There are things that are more than "vaguely scandalous lurking in Obama's past."
That whole illicit drug use thing is certainly more than "vaguely scandalous." His "goofing off," as he calls it, was relatively intense.
"Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it. Not smack, though. ..."
How adorable!
Although he smoked pot and used coke, Obama says he didn't use heroin. That's so cute!
I don't consider the story of his street drug use to be just another "adorable anecdote."
The breaking the boy's arm in Indonesia was a childhood accident.
Whatever role the "tickle fight" played in the incident, it seems innocent enough. I mean, it doesn't sound at all like an Eric Massa-style 50th birthday party sort of tickle game.
If Obama was so traumatized by breaking the boy's arm, I wonder why that didn't make it into one of his books.
Maybe it was so traumatic he couldn't bear to recount it.
A "tickle fight" and a bike is a dangerous mix.
Video.
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