Obama's Cocaine, Clinton's Pot and the Facebook Generation

The New York Times convened several tech experts this weekend to debate online privacy and the "overuse of social networking tools." Professor Clay Shirky stole the show, recounting a college tequila run that ended with his hair on fire. That youthful indiscretion was a harmless secret for Shirky, back in the days when you had to be physically present to witness a private event:

Society has always carved out space for young people to misbehave. We used to do this by making a distinction between behavior we couldn't see, because it was hidden, and behavior we could see, because it was public. That bargain is now broken, because social life increasingly includes a gray area that is publicly available, but not for public consumption.

So nowadays, a tequila flaming head incident cries out for instant memorialization via cell phone, Facebook and YouTube. That may ding some millennial reputations, Shirky contends, but eventually it will recalibrate societal norms to tolerate a greater range of benign misconduct -- as long as adults "cut young people some slack." So if President Clinton dabbled in pot and President Obama once tried some blow, the argument goes, then surely we can chill out on today's kids:

Just as Bill Clinton destroyed the idea that marijuana use was a disqualifier to serious work, the increasing volume of personal life online will come to mean that, even though there's a picture from when your head was on fire that one time, you can still get a job.

The arc of social networking does bend towards reality; a society that sees more of itself should eventually discard some delusions about its own behavior and propriety. The examples of Clinton and Obama, however, actually cut in the opposite direction.

Both politicians disclosed past drug use on their own terms, long after the fact, within a larger narrative about their personal growth and fitness for public office.

For Clinton, it was a parsing separation from perceived hippie dalliances. He was lampooned for claiming not to inhale, sure, but candidate Clinton still drove the discussion to distinguish himself from baby boomers who waxed nostalgic about drugs and protests.

Obama tacked more towards authenticity, beating rivals to his own vulnerabilities with a candid, even casual description of drug use in his memoir.

In essence, both men strained to exert control over their history.

Many young people no longer have that option at all. With photos and videos stalking their professional ascent, millenials will have far less control over the timing and framing of embarrassing disclosures. Furthermore, while Clinton and Obama are salient examples of people who excelled despite revelations of adolescent drug use, they are not exactly a reasonable baseline for most people. These are two people who are exceptionally gifted at presenting themselves to the public -- a skill the Facebook generation can appreciate -- while the rest of us will probably have more trouble explaining away the tape.

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Ari Melber Twitters politics here. This post was originally published at Personal Democracy Forum

Comments

[KillBillV2]

I think I might have a little crush on you...seri­ously.

[KillBillV2]

So true! I'm embarrassed that anything I do will be somehow caught on tape by someone's cell-phone without my knowledge and then put on y outube!

I loved your article btw, when I see you on T.V I enjoy seeing you!

[RoseMerry]

Damn, 2009 and we STILL don't have a President who will admit dropping acid?

[Shawn Drewry]

Thank you Huffington Post for sharing this. Quite hillarious (smile)

LOL

http://www.ShawnDrewry.com

[BigCheese]

Perhaps this new openness will force America to be a bit less hypocritical with its attitudes towards sex, drugs and other "youthful indiscreti­ons." Now that it is no longer a secret that successful members of our society do not have spotless pasts, we can stop putting kids behind bars for getting caught with the same drugs with which our past three presidents "experimented" without punishment. Or perhaps acknowledge that most teenagers (not just the offspring of Republican governors) like to have sex, and should therefore have access to actual sex education and birth control. As time goes on, it will be increasingly difficult to justify our outdated, puritanical values while the internet publicly documents what we've all been doing for quite some time behind closed doors.

Or you could just be like me and not have a Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter account, and refrain from broadcasting every stupid event that happens in your pathetically boring life like its front page news.

[JnrNorman]

LEGALIZE HEMP
8X more btus than corn
8X more hemp-diesel than soy or canola
6X more fiber than cotton
best chicken and turkey feed on the planet they grow twice as fast.

[FebM]

What?? What are we waiting for? There are no illegal plants only illegal chemicals that people choose to brew

[Ari Melber - Huffpost Blogger]

Thanks!

[Earl Brown]

great article, I'd like to see huff post do some serious investigation on the effects of marijuana on people and ALL the (fact based) pros and cons of legalizing and regulating marijuana and hemp in general. this is not a question of whether its going to happen its a question of when, so why not some in the midst of a huge defecit. and an economic and judicial meltdown. i know we love to make a business of everything in america but does our prison/industrial complex need to be so huge?!?!

[GreatNews27]

Top governmental figures are above the law. Congress and the DOJ REFUSE to investigate crimes committed by the rich and well connected. In other words you made a bad analogy. Obama and Clinton could go on national TV and blow up a boxcar full of babies and law enforcement would yawn. I, on the other hand, would end up in prison for dropping a gum wrapper on the street. For anyone foolish enough to even have a facebook page, you get what you deserve.

[research]

that should make hypocrisy much more difficult.

[LiberalBuzz]

Good lesson to learn and one that should be taken to heart by all kids once they prepare to enter college and then the real world of work. Clean the website and ask all of your friends to do so. They should have no problem at all doing so although there are always the contrarians.

Better yet.

Don't even start up with Facebook or Myspace.(y­eah I know, not gonna happen)

[Z-Liberator]

Legalize Cannabis!

[LMPE]

So what? Bush uses his past indiscretions to claim that Jesus saved him.

[qxav949]

Mr. Melber, for me your article underscored just the opposite. I suggest that as "I inhaled" and weed or pot use is not only glamorized but even considered a "rite of passage" for a boomer transitioning from private to public life, so too will all the sex videos, nude photos and pics of assinine behavior become passe.
It's a badge of honor to have been a hippie in the 60s and early 70s, even celebrated. Rampant promiscuity and unbridled drug (ab)use, both negative by generally accepted moral standards, have been consolidated with protesting a bad war and fighting for civil rights.
The Facebook generation have a war they protested, an election for change which they won, and all the stuff that framed your article.
Seems they've got all the requisite bases covered to take over the reins of power in the future. Might be a rough start but when they come in droves like the boomers came in the late 70s, 80s and 90s, they're well poised to control another 3 decades. Now that just leaves how we ensure Medicaid and Social Security solvency for that bunch. We could get lapped on that one. Oye.

[Chauncey1186]

Great post. A year before my daughter was to graduate with her degree in special education I asked her to go through her Facebook and My Space profiles and delete any information she would not want the parents of her future students to read/see. The thought had not occured to her that school districts would actually take the time and effort to mine the social networking sites for information on potential employees. After she performed that task, I asked her how many of her friends still had those partying pictures of her on their walls over which she had no control.

I agree that society will ultimately have to make some adjustments as to how it views some youthful indiscretions, but the reality is we now have a stagnant (freefalling?) employment market with too many well-qualified folks vying for jobs. Employers can pick and choose from any number of good candidates. I'm betting those without the embarassing "hair on fire" pictures will continue to have the edge.

[RiceStarz]

Outside of Prez's obvious advantage for us as a nation in foreign policy, the other priority for me was that he was a real person of mine and his zietgeist. Yes he did drugs as we all did and some still do as active productive and high functioning citizens. I personally would not have voted for anyone as Prez who had not done. The fact that he has admitted it rather than been outed, is a sign of great character. Barack still rocks. And hey HP, when are you going to recognizr Prez's name as not a spelling error. Get with the times.

[Vurz]

I used to get the spelling error for Obama from my browser (Firefox). I'm in shock because I typed 'Obama' and for the first time ever, my browser didn't mark it as a misspelling. I had to go back and change the wording to 'used to'.

Finally!