Posted on 10/16/2012 10:15:07 AM PDT by kathsua
Was President Barack Obama under the influence of alcohol during the debate in Denver? Could alcohol consumption combined with the high altitude explain his poor performance?
I'm not suggesting that Obama was drunk. It's not necessary for someone to be noticeably drunk for alcohol to adversely affect performance.
If Obama had a few drinks before the debate it's probably a normal part of his preparation for public appearances. If he did drink, he was probably unaware that the alcohol combined with the altitude could affect his performance.
The old belief that altitude can cause someone to become drunk faster appears to be a myth. However, alcohol can impair judgment and perception as well as depressing respiration. The reduced oxygen availability in the mile high city could have further slowed Obama's brain and reduced his ability to process information The U.S. Army Public Health Command recommends against alcohol consumption at higher altitudes for this reason .
Altitude alone could not explain Obama's behavior because it would have affected him and Mitt Romney the same.
There's a strong possibility that Obama is an alcoholic like his father Barack Obama, Sr., and his half brother George Obama. Susceptibility to alcoholism is hereditary. As a nephew of a few alcoholics, I know that the only way alcoholics can avoid the negative affects of alcoholism is to not drink alcohol. Moderate use is not an option for alcoholics.
Obama admitted in his autobiography that he drank heavily when he was young. Such drinking could have helped him develop a high tolerance for alcohol so he could drink significant amounts without it having a noticeable affect. Union General Ulysses S. Grant won the Civil War even though he was a very heavy drinker.
Obama could be a "high functioning alcoholic" (HFA). They usually don't give obvious signs of being affected by alcohol and can function without those around them noticing any adverse affects on judgment or behavior. The fact that those around Obama praise everything he does would reinforce any feelings Obama has that his drinking isn't adversely affecting him. Their tendency to idolize him would blind them to any indications he had a problem with alcohol
Two years ago "White House physician, Navy Capt Jeffrey Kuhlman, said Obama should stick with 'moderation in alcohol intake' and ‘smoking cessation efforts’, the use of nicotine gum, and come back in August 2011 after he turns 50."
Some suggest that the recommendation for "moderation in alcohol intake" is some type of standard recommendation. Others such as the writer of Mountain Republic, who has a family history of alcoholism, believes that the doctor wouldn't have brought the subject up unless he detected a possible alcohol related problem. The writer suggests that the beer summit involving Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates and Cambridge police Sergeant Jim Crowley provides an example of how alcoholics think alcohol is a solution to problems.
The beer summit isn't the only time Obama has invited someone to the White House for a drink.
Sandra Rose believes that alcoholism would be consistent with Obama's narcissist personality. She agrees that a recommendation of moderation wouldn't be needed if a patient was already drinking in moderation.
A doctor would have to be careful about recommending moderation in alcohol consumption. Some patients who drink in moderation might complain because they think the recommendation means they are drinking too much. An alcoholic might interpret the statement about "continued moderation" as an indication that his consumption is within acceptable limits.
At a time when the nation faces significant economic and foreign problems, would any president who wasn't an alcoholic brag about setting up his own brewery? Obama's decision to brew his own beer indicates alcohol plays a major role in his life. Working class individuals might brew their own beer because they don't get a feeling of personal accomplishment from their jobs. Obama is President of the United States. He shouldn't need to brew his own beer to feel he's accomplishing anything.
Maybe events in Libya would have been different if Obama had been taking care of presidential business instead of brewing beer.
I've been watching presidents speak for decades. I know I'm being subjective, but something about Obama's facial expressions have looked a little off, particularly a tendency to smile or almost smile at inappropriate times. I had thought this was an example of the way liars smile when they think they are getting away with a lie. However, his expressions could also indicate he is being affected by alcohol.
An alcoholic Obama could appear to be functioning normally.but still have impaired judgment that would affect decision making. He might fail to recognize a threat such as happened in Libya. He could also exhibit paranoid tendencies. He might treat normal criticism as a major attack on him. He might overestimate the threat to the United States from some foreign event.
A Duke University study lists President Richard Nixon as one of our previous alcoholic presidents. He was forced to resign from office because of poor decisions associated with the Watergate scandal. President Ulysses S.Grant who was an alcoholic is considered to have had one of the most corrupt administrations.
One should never debate under the influence of narcissism or marxism.
More likely drugs in Obama’s case.
He was probably a little nervous, being without TOTUS, so he thought a drink, or maybe a “toke”, or a “line” would steady his nerves. /sarc
Obama shows all the signs of a cocaine user. Certain that he understands everything better than anyone else. Nebulous plans, constant failures for which he never accepts responsibility.
still making excuses
I wonder who will be in charge of keeping him from his drink tonight?
He’s a moron, period. The media has to stop with the lame ass excuses.
He was clearly sober in the opening statements.
This excuse doesn’t pass the smell test
I could easily picture him saying to whatever vermin are in his inner circle, “Watch this, I could smoke a joint and still go out there and smoke Romney in this debate”.
Hangin with the Chroom Chroom gang, little pot, little nose candy, couple beers,
More likely one too many Valiums, which calmed his nerves to the point of being comatose.
Perhaps the President on the way to the debate turned his limo into a “choom wagon” filled with marijuana smoke just as in his high school days.
Obama’s poor performance was due to a horrific record as president in the last four years. A disaster cannot be defended.
Plus, this is a president who wasn’t ready to debate, because, he’s been “calling it in” for the last four years, just like he did while state senator in Illinois and U.S. senator for Illinois in Washington. He has always been someone that didn’t care to work for a living, and wanted the positions, but without the responsibility.
So, when he was ALWAYS campaigning or shooting hoops or playing golf or taking vacations or going on TV, instead of working and leading the nation, what was being done on his behalf by his staff, was never something that he would have first-hand knowledge about.
So, in order to prepare for the debates, he had to cram, and he had to learn what “his administration” was up to, and what it had done, and what it had planned. He didn’t have the time to be there, overseeing the presidency, which was being managed by others, while he was “out and about”, and enjoying himself.
He never expected to have to defend the disaster from the last four years, and no doubt, he thought it was going to be easy. Example: on foreign policy, he thought he had stumbles on a winning point when Bin-Laden was finally taken out, but, the rest of his administration’s foreign policy initiatives were being turned into disasters, when Al-Qaeda and Ahmadinejad refused to go along.
His performance cannot be any better than the disasters which he and his administration created in the last 4 years, and the record cannot be erased, no matter if he comes up with an “Oscar winning performace” tonight.
Choom.
Alcoholism or a susceptibilty to it are NOT hereditary. That is junk science made up by the “recovery” industry. I am one of five children of an alcoholic. All of us are completely normal social drinkers. My father’s parents didn’t drink, and none of his aunts and uncles were drunks. My father drank because of his own personal problems that he lacked the courage to confront.
Richard Nixon goes to a debate with a lousy shave in 1960 and they still won’t stop talking about it.
But Obama can attend one drunk and it’s already wiped from the memory banks?
Choom Gang Reunion
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.