Daley: Obama's prior use not an issue
Mayor Daley said Thursday he couldn’t care less that Barack Obama has openly admitted that he smoked marijuana and dabbled in cocaine while in high school.
Daley said past drug use should not be an issue in Obama’s campaign for president in 2008. That’s even though the freshman senator with the rock star image is poised to become the first presidential candidate to openly admit past cocaine use.
“Everybody should ask their sons and daughters that question. Unfortunately, drugs and alcohol [are] very prevalent in society -- every day. You can go out to the wealthiest community. You can go to the middle-class or poor community. Drugs, unfortunately, could be in everybody’s home. Alcohol and drugs is a combination. It’s been a problem for many, many years in this country,” the mayor said.
(AP/Sun-Times)
The Chicago Sun-Times reported last month that Daley has decided to abandon his longstanding tradition of remaining neutral in Democratic primaries to endorse Obama over Hillary Clinton in the 2008 president race.
Daley’s early endorsement of Obama will mark only the second time in 17 years that the mayor has taken a stand in the Democratic presidential sweepstakes before Democratic primary voters have had an opportunity to make their choice.
In January, 1998, the mayor publicly endorsed then-Vice President Al Gore with the presidential election nearly two years away.
The mayor’s brother, then-U.S. Commerce Secretary Bill Daley, chaired Gore’s campaign chairman and marshaled the historic Florida recount for Gore.
This time, the Daley brothers are solidly in the Obama camp.
Bill Daley has signed on as a senior adviser to Obama, who is expected to formally enter the presidential sweepstakes later this month.
Earlier this week, the Washington Post ran a front-page story about the high school drug use that Obama came clean about in his best-selling memoir, Dreams of My Father.
The headline was, “Effect of Obama’s Candor Remains to be Seen.” The story raised questions about whether he could suffer politically if another shoe drops during his presidential campaign.
As a former state’s attorney, Daley is virulently anti-drugs. But he, for one, is not at all bothered by Obama’s candor.
That’s even though Obama appeared to joke about his past drug use when asked about it during a recent appearance on the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” Sun-Times Washington bureau chief Lynn Sweet has noted.
“Remember, senator, you are under oath. Did you inhale?” Leno asked.
“That was the point,” Obama replied.