The Choom Gang: President Obama’s pot-smoking high school days - Polidicks

[URL]http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/post/the-choom-gang-president-obamas-pot-smoking-high-school-days-detailed-in-maraniss-book/2012/05/25/gJQAwFqEqU_blog.html[/URL] [QUOTE]The Internet is buzzing after the Washingtonian published a review of Washington Post associate editor David Maraniss’s forthcoming book “Barack Obama: The Story,” including an excerpt about President Obama’s high school clique and their favorite pastime. Let’s just say jobs weren’t the president’s first green initiative. The group of friends smoked marijuana frequently enough to nickname themselves the “Choom Gang.” But enough of my bad weed puns. Here’s what other blogs are writing about the excerpts. Yahoo: [URL="http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-high-school-pot-smoking-detailed-maraniss-book-154948662.html"]Bill Clinton he was not[/URL]. BuzzFeed has a handy “[URL="http://www.buzzfeed.com/gavon/a-users-guide-to-smoking-pot-with-barack-obama"]User’s Guide To Smoking Pot With Barack Obama[/URL]” compiled from excerpts in Maraniss’s book. Time’s post is titled the “[URL="http://swampland.time.com/2012/05/25/audacity-of-dope-tales-of-a-toking-teenage-obama/"]Audacity of Dope[/URL].” And NPR has “[URL="http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/05/25/153703394/inhale-to-the-chief-more-details-of-obamas-pot-smoking-youth-revealed"]Inhale to the chief[/URL]” [URL="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/05/obama-and-his-pot-smoking-choom-gang/"]ABC’s Jonathan Karl reminds us[/URL] Obama has previously written about his drug use: In his 1995 memoir “Dreams of My Father,” Obama writes about smoking pot almost like Dr. Seuss wrote about eating green eggs and ham. As a high school kid, Obama wrote, he would smoke “in a white classmate’s sparkling new van,” he would smoke “in the dorm room of some brother” and he would smoke “on the beach with a couple of Hawaiian kids.”He would smoke it here and there. He would smoke it anywhere.Conservative outlets are especially having fun with the new fodder. [URL="http://hotair.com/archives/2012/05/25/smokin-weed-with-barry-and-the-choom-gang/"]Hot Air[/URL] writes, “Apparently, we elected Pauly Shore.” And Reason’s headline is [URL="http://reason.com/blog/2012/05/25/obama-still-bogarting-nations-joints-man"]Obama Still Bogarting Nation’s Joints, Man[/URL].” Since you stuck around this long, here are a few of the high-interest excerpts from Maraniss’s book: Maraniss notes that Obama spent a lot of time at the Punahou School in Hawaii with a “self-selected group of boys who loved basketball and good times and called themselves the Choom Gang. Choom is a verb, meaning “to smoke marijuana.” “As a member of the Choom Gang,” Maraniss writes, “Barry Obama was known for starting a few pot-smoking trends.” One of those was: “Total Absorption” or “TA”. “TA was the opposite of Bill Clinton’s claim that as a Rhodes scholar at Oxford he smoked dope but never inhaled,” explains Maraniss. If you exhaled prematurely when you were with the Choom Gang, “you were assessed a penalty and your turn was skipped the next time the joint came around.” One of Obama’s old friends at the school, Tom Topolinski, told Maraniss: “Wasting good bud smoke was not tolerated.” Obama helped popularized the concept of “roof hits,” as well, writes Maraniss. “When they were chooming in a car all the windows had to be rolled up so no smoke blew out and went to waste; when the pot was gone, they tilted their heads back and sucked in the last bit of smoke from the ceiling.” Maraniss also says Obama was known for his “Interceptions”: “When a joint was making the rounds, he often elbowed his way in, out of turn, shouted ‘Intercepted!,’ and took an extra hit.” Maraniss notes that Obama, looking back later in life on those days, made it sound as though he was hanging out with a group of misbegotten n’er-do-wells, what he called “the club of disaffection.” “In fact,” Maraniss writes, “most members of the Choom Gang were decent students and athletes who went on to successful and productive lawyers, writers and businessmen,” Maraniss writes. One notable exception was Ray, the group’s pot dealer who, known for his ability “to score quality bud,” would years later be killed by a scorned gay lover armed with a ball-peen hammer. Maraniss notes that Obama, in a high school yearbook, acknowledged the hippie drug dealer, Ray, who sold the Choom Gang pot, but didn’t acknowledge his own mother. “Thanks Tut, Gramps, Choom Gang, and Ray,” Obama wrote, “for all the good times.” [/QUOTE] [QUOTE]Maraniss also says Obama was known for his “Interceptions”: “When a joint was making the rounds, he often elbowed his way in, out of turn, shouted ‘Intercepted!,’ and took an extra hit.” [/QUOTE] You do that shit around here, you get your ass kicked.

Interceptions just don't fly, anywhere, at any point in time. Seriously that shit would get kicked out a sesh.

well at least he knows what pot does unlike all the "omg weed worst drug ever can kill u gateway drug!!!!!" politicians

Oh no! This is relevant... How?

[QUOTE=Pierrewithahat;36087503]Interceptions just don't fly, anywhere, at any point in time. Seriously that shit would get kicked out a sesh.[/QUOTE] Wow you take weed seriously. If someone nudges ahead of you, relax, you'll get it like 20 seconds later.

[quote]Let’s just say jobs weren’t the president’s first green initiative.[/quote] Hehe

I really don't give a shit that he smoked weed but it'd be nice if he didn't lie about not raiding medical marijuana dispensaries as long as they are legal in the state they are established. He has cracked down more then Bush on drugs.

[QUOTE=Mlisen14;36087525]Wow you take weed seriously. If someone nudges ahead of you, relax, you'll get it like 20 seconds later.[/QUOTE] Dude, it's cool once or twice, but out of general human decency and kindness you don't jump queues at all and cause another person to wait cause your all antsy and shit.

Considering the fact that over half the American population is FOR Legalizing Marijuana, this shouldn't be much of a hit to his campaign.

[QUOTE=Reds;36087523]Oh no! This is relevant... How?[/QUOTE] Like every ostensibly petty news story about politicians, it can give insight into how they may act professionally. If he elbows his way ahead of other people when smoking pot that can show how he may act diplomatically. There was an article in an Australian newspaper some time ago about Obama sleeping with an Australian woman years and years ago. She described his room and said it was really orderly, and smelled like cigarettes and cheap cologne, but was cold and made her uncomfortable which may represent how he conducts himself in other situations. It's not like there's absolutely no value in this knowledge.

Who cares if he -used- to smoke weed, he's not smoking it now so it wont affect his abilites to make decisions.

[QUOTE=Pierrewithahat;36087552]Dude, it's cool once or twice, but out of general human decency and kindness you don't jump queues at all and cause another person to wait cause your all antsy and shit.[/QUOTE] Being a dick and kicking someone out is a worse show of human decency than skipping a queue.

[QUOTE]” Maraniss writes. One notable exception was Ray, the group’s pot dealer who, known for his ability “to score quality bud,” would years later be killed by a scorned gay lover armed with a ball-peen hammer.[/QUOTE]What the fuck?

[QUOTE=Mlisen14;36087629]Being a dick and kicking someone out is a worse show of human decency than skipping a queue.[/QUOTE] Wait, so kicking someone out for a while so they actually realise they need to stop being a dick, is being a dick? Let's just agree to disagree here, cause we're not gonna convince each other to change their opinions.

i'm proud to have such a cool president with all the bastards around him wringing down his neck you couldn't fault him for toking up even today.

[QUOTE=Pierrewithahat;36087503]Interceptions just don't fly, anywhere, at any point in time. Seriously that shit would get kicked out a sesh.[/QUOTE] It seems that amongst his friends, being stingy with your hits and line order wasn't a priority. They were having fun smoking, and I doubt they cared what order they got high in so long as they got high. I'm sure Barack provided a stimulus every once in a while to compensate. It's not like the article says he intercepted the joint and ran out of the room to smoke it all or something. It sounds like you and your friends need to chill on how you get your drug fix. It's pretty common in my circles for the joint or pipe to make an irregular rotation pattern when we are out and about due to differing levels of tolerance, and everyone's aim being to have a good time rather than get 'high as fuck'. The only time things go in a circle is when a circle is the most convenient way of passing it.

Right I'll just clarify my point here, what I'm saying is that in small groups of friends like 4 or 5 people it's fine, but when there's more people and it takes a while for the piece or joint to get passed around and someone is regularly intercepting and shit when other folk wish to partake then it's a dick move. I'm not get all militant and shit, it's not that severe, I'm just saying when there's a fair amount of people then it's a dick move to just grab a second hit.

And imagine if Obama got caught dealing drugs, the ensuing result (i.e. felony) due to the terrible U.S. justice system would have irreversibly fucked his life and he'd never become president. Maybe he should lax on the drug raids a bit.

[QUOTE=Pierrewithahat;36088236]Right I'll just clarify my point here, what I'm saying is that in small groups of friends like 4 or 5 people it's fine, but when there's more people and it takes a while for the piece or joint to get passed around and someone is regularly intercepting and shit when other folk wish to partake then it's a dick move. I'm not get all militant and shit, it's not that severe, I'm just saying when there's a fair amount of people then it's a dick move to just grab a second hit.[/QUOTE] vote for ron paul obama intercepted a joint once

[QUOTE=FreakyMe;36088134]It seems that amongst his friends, being stingy with your hits and line order wasn't a priority. They were having fun smoking, and I doubt they cared what order they got high in so long as they got high. I'm sure Barack provided a stimulus every once in a while to compensate. It's not like the article says he intercepted the joint and ran out of the room to smoke it all or something. It sounds like you and your friends need to chill on how you get your drug fix. It's pretty common in my circles for the joint or pipe to make an irregular rotation pattern when we are out and about due to differing levels of tolerance, and everyone's aim being to have a good time rather than get 'high as fuck'. The only time things go in a circle is when a circle is the most convenient way of passing it.[/QUOTE] I don't get why people are taking it so seriously, I'd totally crease if someone did that if only for him screaming 'INTERCEPTED.'

[QUOTE=Pierrewithahat;36087668]Wait, so kicking someone out for a while so they actually realise they need to stop being a dick, is being a dick? Let's just agree to disagree here, cause we're not gonna convince each other to change their opinions.[/QUOTE] oh boy you must be a real life of the party

I love how the realize Obama's going to win and desperately try to dig irrelevant shit up on him.

if anything this makes me support him more

[QUOTE=Radley;36088408]I love how the realize Obama's going to win and desperately try to dig irrelevant shit up on him.[/QUOTE] "Obama used to wear cowboy hats in highschool could this be a sign that he's [thumb]http://lostcowboyrecords.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/badass.jpg[/thumb] ...wait... Tim, you stupid mother fucker! That's not dirt on Obama! YOUR FIRED! ...is this thing still on?"

I bet there are Republicans that have smoked pot but at the end of the day who fucking cares?

[QUOTE=Red scout?;36087627]Who cares if he -used- to smoke weed, he's not smoking it now so it wont affect his abilites to make decisions.[/QUOTE] Who knows if that wouldn't be the solution to all problems.

Now watch soccer moms all across the nation protest against him

[QUOTE=thisispain;36087753]i'm proud to have such a cool president with all the bastards around him wringing down his neck you couldn't fault him for toking up even today.[/QUOTE] I would 'fault' him considering half of the arrests in America are for Marijuana, mostly related to possession. I would fault him considering twice as many young people are arrested for marijuana possession today than during the Reagan era. I know this place is like an Obama fan club but are you kidding me?

Not only is he black, muslim and not born in the US. But a satan loving death drug dealing devilspawn from hell. United States, get your shit together.

[QUOTE=Nerevar982;36089603]I would 'fault' him considering half of the arrests in America are for Marijuana, mostly related to possession. I would fault him considering twice as many young people are arrested for marijuana possession today than during the Reagan era. I know this place is like an Obama fan club but are you kidding me?[/QUOTE] don't worry i wasn't really serious. Obama is far from my pick for president