He already has.
Keep up.
"It's not something that I'm proud of, but that's part of the journey that I've taken. I like to think that by letting people know the mistakes I've made that maybe young people behind me are looking and saying 'You know what? This is a guy who made mistakes and he was able to right his life and get on track.' And that's I think an important message.
"Voters can make a judgment as to whether dumb things that I did when I was a teenager are relevant to the work that I've done since that time."
He has? Can you provide the actual quote and a link?
Full quote, 60 Minutes interview:
KROFT: I don't think I can. And about your drug use when you were in high school and in college, that you smoked marijuana and inhaled.
OBAMA: Right. I did. I did.
KROFT: And did a little blow, as you put it, when you could afford it, and considered using some heroin.
OBAMA: Only considered it briefly.
KROFT: Explain that. Why did you do it?
"
OBAMA: Well, it was typical of a teenager who was confused about who he was and what his place in the world was, and thought that experimenting with drugs was a way to rebel. It's not something that I'm proud of, but I thought it was important to write about it because that's part of the journey that I've taken. And I think that one of the things that I'm absolutely clear about is that if I'm trying to project this image of perfection, if I suggest to people that I emerged from the womb wise and worldly and diligent and never made mistakes, then, number one, it's a lie. Number two, I like to think that by letting people know the mistakes I've made, that maybe young people behind me are looking and saying, "You know what, this is a guy who made mistakes, but he was able to right his life and get on track."
Transcript Excerpt: Sen. Barack Obama - 60 Minutes - CBS News
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and again:
Obama acknowledged that he used cocaine "a few times" and "primarily smoked pot" in high school and his first two years of college, starting when he was about 16 and ending when he was about 19.
After the DePaul event, Obama said he wrote about his drug use in his book "because I think I was not untypical of young men in that generation, particularly African-American men who I think often engaged in self-destructive behavior — pushing away from education, trying to act cool by embracing unconventional behavior."
Obama said it's up to the media and voters to decide if drug use is a relevant campaign issue
"I think that, at this stage, my life is an open book, literally and figuratively. And I think voters can make a judgment as to whether dumb things that I did when I was a teenager are relevant to the work that I've done since that time," he said.
FOXNews.com - 'Drugs and Divorces' Focus of Ill. Senate Race - You Decide 2004
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