GEORGE W. MUST ANSWER THE BIG ONE

There's no need to root for George W. Bush. The only reason he's a
candidate for president is that he hit the parental lottery. If his
name were George W. Smith, he'd be lucky to run the local Moose Lodge.

But that's no reason to hammer the guy because he might have done
drugs when he was younger.

If he snorted cocaine on the campaign bus last week, that's one thing.
But if we're going to disqualify people from public office because
they screwed up when they were young, who'd be left to run?

Hi. My name is Edgar and I haven't left my living room since 1972. I'd
like to be the next president of the United States. As long as I don't
have to go out of the house.

This is not to take drug use lightly, or to suggest that it's no big
deal because everybody did it back then. Fact is, most people didn't
do it back then, and most people don't do it now.

But one thing about us human beings is that we have discovered
countless ways to be stupid. And even the best among us have probably,
at some point in their lives, done something shameful.

It's always useful, before you go spouting off about someone else, to
wonder what it would be like if you were the one under the spotlight.
Think about the worst thing you've ever done. Now think about the
whole world finding out.

Some folks in the media -- and some of Bush's opponents, or at least
their flunkies -- have ripped him for hedging on the cocaine question.
But it seems to me he's come around to an answer that makes sense:
Whatever I did, it's been a long time ago, and what I did a long time
ago is none of your business.

Of course, the problem is deciding what counts as a long time ago.
Does everything someone did after age 18 count? If so, we're going to
hear a lot more about what goes on at frat parties than anyone wants
to know.

Maybe we should flip the old counterculture saying on its head. They
used to say, never trust anyone over 30. Maybe it should be, never
trust what anyone did before they were 30.

Character counts, mind you. It counts big time. It's perfectly fair to
question someone's private judgment before we decide whether to put
that person in public office.

But the two main tests should be whether someone's mistakes are
recent, and whether they're part of a pattern.

This is why President Clinton's affairs were so hurtful to the country
- -- it's not that he fooled around, it's that he can't seem to stop.
The rest of us have to question his maturity.

It often turns out that the best leaders are people who messed up a
lot in their youth. Our history books are stuffed with vital figures
who started life as rowdies and slackers. Our churches are filled with
preachers who learned the Ten Commandments by checking off how many
they'd broken.

George W. Bush doesn't amount to much as a candidate. About all he's
done so far is raise money, and if that's how we pick a president,
let's elect Jerry Lewis.

But unless he left some bodies under the dorm at Yale, what Bush did
as a young man doesn't make much difference in how he might turn out
as president.

The question is whether he did what the rest of us are supposed to
do:

Grow up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tommy's phone: 358-5227. Fax: 358-5037. Address: P.O. Box 30308, Charlotte,
NC 28230. E-mail: tommy2@charlotte.com