Custom Search

Saturday, July 18, 2009

To drink or not to drink, that is the question


There seems to be a little bit of piss and moaning going around about President Obama having an occasional beer, martini or any other kind of alcoholic beverage. My opinion on this particular subject is biased due to the fact that I have enjoyed a few domestic beers in my day. And yet there will always be someone out there to immediately play the “He must be an alcoholic” card on anyone that even walks by a liquor store. Those would be the nice folks that are without sin and can afford that lovely glass house high up on the holier than thou hill. We all know these nice folks, the ones that exchange pleasantries after church but refuse to recognize one another while picking up their beer and wine.

President Obama is not getting drunk, hammered, inebriated, passing out, slurring his words, or even tossing his cookies on the porcelain thrown. From all reports that I have read, he will have one, or maybe even two at the most drinks and that is all he will have. Do I need to mention that he has a designated driver courtesy of the Secret Service for four years so it isn’t like he is out drunk driving which I highly discourage even after one sip of anything with alcohol in it.

This is what is being said over at Politico and I recommend reading the entire piece…

When President Barack Obama confessed his occasional urge to have a puff of a cigarette, inquiring minds wondered: Does Obama ever savor that smoke with a glass of cognac? A splash of port? Or even, perhaps, a good, old-fashioned ale?

To be sure, Obama is anything but a lush. But unlike his predecessor, former President George W. Bush, who refrained from cracking open a cold one in or out of the White House, Obama has enjoyed a tasty beverage or two since moving into the Executive Mansion.

But rather than sticking to one signature drink, Obama’s choices are varied: beer, wine, martinis, sparkling wine, margaritas.

Sip, Snip, Knock over a plant…

After Obama was seen with beer in hand at the Wizards game, callers lit up the lines at WWL, a sports radio station in Louisiana, according to the station’s website.

“People are losing 5, 10, 20,000 dollars a day in the stock market, and he’s sitting there drinking a beer,” one caller said. “It’s insulting. There’s a lot of people suffering.”

Another caller complained, “The president is the president 24 hours a day. I don’t think he should drink on the job.”
- Politco

There is a big difference between getting drunk and enjoying an occasional drink at a social gathering. Some of our President’s in history could be described as high functioning alcoholics and some not so great leaders of the United States should have tossed back a few shots to get their heads out of their backside so to speak.

George Washington, a great man, a great leader, but was also the largest distiller of whiskey in the newly formed United States of America. George liked his whiskey.

Ulysses S. Grant had a hankering for whiskey and cigars to which President Abe Lincoln was thankful for when then General Grant managed to turn the Civil War around and eventually end the death and suffering on both sides of the battle fields.

Teddy Roosevelt, the mans man as President never liked alcohol but he would drink a gallon of coffee in no time flat. And as a sober man he did great things for his nation such as creating our National Parks, implementing the USDA to enforce food safety, and of course breaking up the corporations that thought they owned America.

Calvin Coolidge was a teetotaler and sat on his hands while the great depression was knocking on the door of his Presidency and passed the buck to Hoover.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt loved to toss a few back and he wasn’t shy about it. He still managed to pass Social Security, pull a nation out of the Great Depression, and be a successful Commander in Chief against two enemies, in two parts of the world. Its interesting to point out that his counterpart in England, Winston Churchill, did his best work when he was somewhat inebriated.

Richard Nixon was a man that enjoyed his beverage of choice all alone and yet he managed to open up China to the world. Then again he had that little plumbing problem too that was his downfall.

Jimmy Carter, well he didn’t drink and I think both sides of the political aisle would say he was not very successful as President and just leave it at that.

Ronald Reagan, the Big Gipper, loved a cold brew and was proud as hell to have one in Boston with the folks during one campaign stop. There are some folks that say that the friendship between Speaker of the House Tip O’Neil and President Reagan was not entirely based on respect of one another. And somehow Reagan managed to install the actions needed to pull down the Iron Curtain.

Bill Clinton, lets just say that Rudolph the red nosed reindeer had some competition every Christmas. Clinton still managed to be President during the most prosperous times in American history and working with a Republican Congress managed to balance the federal budget and pass on a one trillion surplus to George W. Bush.

George W. Bush, AA poster boy President. I think we can all say that he used every excuse starting with 9/11 to screw over the middle and lower classes and left our nation with to many messes to clean up.

I think it can honestly be said that some people in the position of President could imbibe an occasional adult beverage, some shouldn’t have, and some should have. History is the ultimate judge on the issue and President Obama will face that test when he is no longer President. Till then, I trust that President Obama enjoys his beverage of choice in moderation and on occasions that are acceptable to our society.

Have to run, NASCAR is on! Somebody toss me a cold beer…

Papamoka

Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

3 Comments:

Anonymous Frodo, remembering the Incomparable Moron said...

For the record Papa, there is a quote from Laura Bush that goes something like this, "It's either me or Jim Beam." Bush has admitted to alcohol dependency, but denied drinking after becoming President.
Bush is recognized far and wide to have taken more vacations, cumulatively, than any other two men serving as President.
He was in bed by 9 o'clock every night, even missing the famous boob shot from Michael Jackson's sister at the Super Bowl because he was already in bed.
He exercised for two hours every day, stating that the "American people want a President who is fit."
(Even then he screwed up the words, for what the American people truly wanted was a man who was fit to be President. That was another failure on his part.)
Frodo will drink to that.

9:25 PM  
Blogger Papamoka said...

I don't know if he kept to his sobriety in the White House. I swear he was half in the bag when he declared himself the "Deciderer". It would also explain why Mine Fuhrer Dick Cheney was so pissed off all the time. He was doing George's job and his own. LOL!

Cheers to ya Frodo, hope you don't mind if I toast with just a coffee though.

8:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Who cares about an occasional cocktail when this is going on:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090717155917AAd73o8

10:50 AM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home