Honesty is hard to find in politics - the art of saying what one thinks others want to hear. If getting elected is the ultimate goal, then there is little incentive to disclose past transgressions. However, it is comforting to see politicians, especially presidential candidates, buck this trend. Sen. Barack Obama (D- Ill.), a Democratic front-runner who has discussed his use of marijuana in the past, recently revisited the topic when it was broached as he was visiting a New Hampshire high school classroom.
Obama was originally asked a question about medicinal marijuana, but was pushed further to speak about his own drug use. The student asked if Obama had ever inhaled, a jab at Clinton's infamous assertion that he had tried marijuana but "didn't inhale." Obama responded candidly by saying, "I did. It's not something I'm proud of. It was a mistake I made as a young man." Obama then responded directly to Bill Clinton's famous phrase, saying, "I never understood that line. The point was to inhale. That was the point."
It is refreshing to see a candidate speak openly about his errors. Everybody makes mistakes and nobody is perfect. If people claim that they are perfect, then they are lying. A president will no doubt make mistakes, but it is imperative to know that they can admit to them.
When Clinton said he never inhaled, he was the laughing stock of the country. People, and especially children, can see right through lies. Candidates have to remember that students know what is going on. In most high schools and colleges, there are students that experiment with drugs and alcohol. Glossing over the situation just makes politicians look foolish and does nothing to address the problem.
Despite Obama's honesty, there are still candidates that feel their personal history is off limits. They assume that their past actions do not contribute to their overall character, an attribute many voters have in mind when making their decisions on the ballots. Mitt Romney took the opposite view of Obama. He said, "If we're running for president, I think it's important for us not to go into details about the weaknesses and our own failings for the concern that we open kids up to thinking that it's OK for them." In a stroke of political genius, Romney has set himself up to avoid answering any questions about his past, but leaves the voters to wonder, "What does he have to hide?"
Honesty is an important quality for a candidate to have. Honesty builds trust and rapport with the citizens of the country while humanizing the candidate along the way. Nobody is perfect, not even the president of United States.
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