Smokin’ weed with Barry and the “Choom Gang”
posted at 2:02 pm on May 25, 2012 by Allahpundit
For years we’ve wondered what dark secrets might lurk in The One’s shadowy past. I knew we’d find out one day and I knew it’d be bad, but I never imagined quite how bad.
Apparently, we elected Pauly Shore.
Maraniss portrays the teenage Obama as not just a pot smoker, but a pot-smoking innovator.
“As a member of the Choom Gang,” Maraniss writes, “Barry Obama was known for starting a few pot-smoking trends.”
The first Obama-inspired trend: “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. Here’s how it worked: 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.”…
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.”
Reason’s Mike Riggs titles his post on this, “Barack Obama punishes people for getting high; it used to be, he punished them for not getting high enough.” Plenty more details at the ABC link above, but for further reading let me recommend instead this instant classic from BuzzFeed illustrating key moments of “Choom Gang” lore with period photos. Here’s my favorite. He didn’t always lead from behind, my friends:

Coming in a close second to “Roof Hits”: “Pumping Stations.” Click over and tell me I’m wrong. And after you’ve done that, if you missed it a few days ago, watch this profane but compelling rant from Penn Jillette on the absurdity of O treating marijuana as a threat worthy of prohibition even though he managed to do okay for himself after using it — a lot, apparently. Exit question: What’s more startling about the “Choom Gang” revelations, the fact that O was so immersed in stoner culture or the fact that he was at one point a seemingly outgoing guy with lots of friends? I thought he was a loner.
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Question our Jesus?
H-A-T-E-R-S!!!
PappyD61 on May 25, 2012 at 2:03 PM
dude. can i get a waiver?
ted c on May 25, 2012 at 2:04 PM
I just can’t believe this guy is President. I hated these types of guys when I was in school. Grrrr…..
Oil Can on May 25, 2012 at 2:04 PM
Well, he does regularly poll 90% among likely users.
spiritof61 on May 25, 2012 at 2:05 PM
The Punk said he saved more than all the presidents in the last 60 years…the crowds were clapping.
The Pimp of the world is depicted well in that picture.
Fools deserve him, fully.
Schadenfreude on May 25, 2012 at 2:05 PM
This would all more impact if people were being sent to jail solely for a possession rap. They aren’t. Certainly the Federal government is not putting anyone in jail solely for possession.
Rocks on May 25, 2012 at 2:06 PM
This post is racist.
rockmom on May 25, 2012 at 2:06 PM
Well, this should swing the young libertarian vote his way.
oldroy on May 25, 2012 at 2:06 PM
Dude’s always been a welch. Welching off the public dole, probably never brought a bag of his own, and pinchin’ off others stash.
ted c on May 25, 2012 at 2:06 PM
Critics of drug use are racists.
CycloneCDB on May 25, 2012 at 2:06 PM
When was the last time this guy was p!ss-tested?
BKeyser on May 25, 2012 at 2:07 PM
Not that bright.
His SAT is lower than GWB’s.
Schadenfreude on May 25, 2012 at 2:07 PM
He looks so wasted in that pic with #10 on the buzzfeed link.
Brat on May 25, 2012 at 2:07 PM
Dude
cmsinaz on May 25, 2012 at 2:08 PM
“…This stuff tastes funny.”
“It’s Labrador man.”
portlandon on May 25, 2012 at 2:08 PM
Dude! That’s my head! I’m so wasted!
John the Libertarian on May 25, 2012 at 2:08 PM
Sadly, can’t even play us some good West Side jazz. Man what’s up with that?
kenny on May 25, 2012 at 2:08 PM
…THANK YOU MSM!!!…bet he’s still at it in the White House…all you have to do is look how he acts and the decisions he makes.
…JugEars could pass a big fat one around at staff meetings…and the MSM would only look at each other and question the smell.
KOOLAID2 on May 25, 2012 at 2:08 PM
I sincerely like to Thank…
Affrimative Action
White Guilt
Maintstream Media
John McCain
For giving us a custer f of a preident.
Oil Can on May 25, 2012 at 2:08 PM
Until I see his grades I will consider him a malicious dummy.
No bright person hides grades.
Media, suffocate from consuming his sh*t, literally.
Schadenfreude on May 25, 2012 at 2:08 PM
these dichotomies are compelling. Either a loner, or a friend with weed? Either Hawaii, or Kenya. Either an author, or Ayers wrote it.
You never know what you’re going to get with this guy, but its becoming safer to assume the worst, isn’t it?
ted c on May 25, 2012 at 2:09 PM
+1 portlandon
cmsinaz on May 25, 2012 at 2:10 PM
This is a great country where any drug doing, drug dealing, utter and complete corrupt incompetent, can become president.
NoDonkey on May 25, 2012 at 2:10 PM
Penn spanked him.
Fallon on May 25, 2012 at 2:10 PM
/HuffPo
Bush never said whether he did Cocaine or not while Barry bragged about it in his book. I guess HuffPo will be calling for Obama to resign any day now./
mankai on May 25, 2012 at 2:10 PM
Looks like “Mary J” really is a gateway drug……to the presidency.
B-Ri on May 25, 2012 at 2:11 PM
We had another name for it…
Seven Percent Solution on May 25, 2012 at 2:11 PM
“This is a hybrid. This is a cross, ah, of Bluegrass, Kentucky Bluegrass, Featherbed Bent, and Northern California Sensemilia. The amazing stuff about this is, that you can play 36 holes on it in the afternoon, take it home and just get stoned to the bejeezus-belt that night on this stuff.” – Barry Obama in 1980
NoDonkey on May 25, 2012 at 2:12 PM
Everything about those pics screams “Punk Ass”.
Bishop on May 25, 2012 at 2:12 PM
The Residual Cognitive Effects of Heavy Marijuana Use in College Students
ted c on May 25, 2012 at 2:12 PM
ted c on May 25, 2012 at 2:14 PM
In Kenya it is Quat(sp). My guess, a drawer full and before every speech. Note the eyes.
kenny on May 25, 2012 at 2:14 PM
Something that was very much a no-no among my crowd. But with Dear Liar, it’s all about himself.
rbj on May 25, 2012 at 2:14 PM
“Total absorption.” = Bogart.
Bmore on May 25, 2012 at 2:14 PM
The sad thing is, they were going to anyway.
Rebar on May 25, 2012 at 2:15 PM
This is one of the things that I agree 100% with Ron Paul on. I really don’t care given everything we have tried to fight the war on drugs, it failed.
This is vetting though. People did not think of Obama as a “stoner”
Speaking of vetting…..Why isn’t this coming from Breibart.tv? lol..justsaying.
Let me also like to point out that this is another Friday news cycle dump. This needs to be on the Tuesday morning front pages!
Can.I.be.in.the.middle on May 25, 2012 at 2:16 PM
Missed this one
Schadenfreude on May 25, 2012 at 2:16 PM
Yet this guy maintains a security clearance while he’s the CIC of a military who kicks out guys for doing spice.
NoDonkey on May 25, 2012 at 2:16 PM
President Bush was an alcoholic.
cjw79 on May 25, 2012 at 2:16 PM
Mellow dude, you’re harshin my buzz.
Bmore on May 25, 2012 at 2:17 PM
Dear Mr. President,
Damn dude! I’m headed to Hawaii this Christmas and I’m sure you will be there as usual. Can you hook a brotha from another motha up!
Best wishes,
Jeff Spicoli
CTSherman on May 25, 2012 at 2:17 PM
“You white racist hicks“
Schadenfreude on May 25, 2012 at 2:17 PM
Puff puff pass….
donkichi on May 25, 2012 at 2:17 PM
The First Stoner President
faraway on May 25, 2012 at 2:18 PM
Good reasons to elect the Mormon then.
NoDonkey on May 25, 2012 at 2:18 PM
Speaking of “doin’ a little blow”:
touching his nose to much
Rebar on May 25, 2012 at 2:19 PM
My sympathy to your family
kenny on May 25, 2012 at 2:20 PM
I never heard of roof hits. We used to call it hotboxing. I will say this. I don’t some anymore but I do drink and I do think drinking is worse than smoking. I don’t understand why liquor which kills millions is legal but marijuana isn’t.
Politricks on May 25, 2012 at 2:20 PM
Was Bush president before, during or after Prohibition?
Bishop on May 25, 2012 at 2:20 PM
Hate to tell ya’ll… but none of Obama’s pot smoking innovations are his… they are plagiarizer from every other serious pot smoker that came before him…
-
Just another case of over-hyping this guy…
-
RalphyBoy on May 25, 2012 at 2:21 PM
Thanks again, 52 percenters.
Cicero43 on May 25, 2012 at 2:21 PM
I sh*t on dirtbags like that in high school…thanks for reminding me why.
2lbsTest on May 25, 2012 at 2:21 PM
All Hail King Bongalong !
FlatFoot on May 25, 2012 at 2:22 PM
I still wanna hear from his current coke supplier.
Archivarix on May 25, 2012 at 2:24 PM
oh look, the economy is recovering…
INTERCEPTED BEEYOTCH! – BARRY THE POT SMOKING MUSLIM BISEXUAL
GhoulAid on May 25, 2012 at 2:24 PM
Hey guys, come on, let’s be fair. Seems like his pot smoking policies are the most fiscally responsible things he’s ever done.
galenrox on May 25, 2012 at 2:24 PM
…pass the dutchie to the left…
DanMan on May 25, 2012 at 2:24 PM
Are you saying breaking a law is a disqualification to be president?
cjw79 on May 25, 2012 at 2:25 PM
1/21/13:
“Hey Obama–it’s Inauguration day, you ain’t got no job, and you ain’t got sh*t to do!”
-Chris “Smokey” Tucker
Kataklysmic on May 25, 2012 at 2:26 PM
Coolest pResident Evah!!!!
I wish I could hang with the Baraka and smoke some dope…
.
.
Oh, wait….
No I don’t.
I don’t hang with punks or dopers.
Much less punk doper marxists.
LegendHasIt on May 25, 2012 at 2:26 PM
In unrelated news, 59% of African Americans now support drug use.
rogerb on May 25, 2012 at 2:26 PM
Are you?
Bishop on May 25, 2012 at 2:27 PM
Smoking weed
Smoking wizz
Doing coke
Drinking beers
Drinking beers beers beers
Rolling fatties
Smoking blunts
Who smokes the blunts?
Barry smoke the blunts!
Rollin blunts and smokin…
(content warning…)
Kensington on May 25, 2012 at 2:27 PM
His economic policies has the Federal Gpvernment using the same puff puff, pass antics of his stoner days.
Too bad he isn’t as frugal with our money as he was with his THC.
Daemonocracy on May 25, 2012 at 2:27 PM
Need to check the list of missing people…
Oil Can on May 25, 2012 at 2:27 PM
You need to go get a drink.
kenny on May 25, 2012 at 2:27 PM
No. I figured that was your point when you pointed out that Bush was an alcoholic after Prohibition ended. So what was your point then?
cjw79 on May 25, 2012 at 2:28 PM
The fact that the facts about Hussein were covered up so that American people had no idea about the facts about Hussein ?
burrata on May 25, 2012 at 2:28 PM
Obama’s Marxism is more dangerous than his weed.
faraway on May 25, 2012 at 2:29 PM
The Choom Gang? Why have I not heard anything about this until now?
changer1701 on May 25, 2012 at 2:29 PM
FIFM
GrannyDee on May 25, 2012 at 2:29 PM
Where are any of these other dope heads that he toked up with? Why haven’t they been interviewed? Were they paid off too?
ted c on May 25, 2012 at 2:30 PM
Well then we’re even because I was trying to figure out what your point was by mentioning Bush’s alcoholism.
Bishop on May 25, 2012 at 2:30 PM
How does it feel when you got no job?
Kensington on May 25, 2012 at 2:30 PM
Not really. True Libertarians (definitely not the Bill Maher / Woody Harrellson types) are for smaller government and less punitive drug laws. As Penn Gillette correctly points out, King Barry supports jail sentences for drug possession, while he himself used drugs regularly in his youth.
UltimateBob on May 25, 2012 at 2:30 PM
When you’ve got access to pot, you make a lot of “friends”.
thirtyandseven on May 25, 2012 at 2:30 PM
The voters should consider the fact that if Barry tried to enlist in the military and related all of us drug stories, he’d have been shown the door.
And also that these are the laws he as president, presides over. How many Americans have been jailed for exactly the same things he did?
No leadership ability whatsoever.
NoDonkey on May 25, 2012 at 2:32 PM
These days he’d call it a mandate.
crazy_legs on May 25, 2012 at 2:32 PM
I LOL’d at that.
Cheech and Chong movies….. good times, good times.
UltimateBob on May 25, 2012 at 2:32 PM
We didn’t have dorms in our high school. I thought his Mom was on food stamps and they were poor.
It sounds like he went to an ultra-rich prep school.
faraway on May 25, 2012 at 2:33 PM
…that’s funny…and more like what would occur!
KOOLAID2 on May 25, 2012 at 2:33 PM
Come do that in my circle and see what happens…
cajun carrot on May 25, 2012 at 2:34 PM
Combine this with his love of golf, and you can see that Obama really really really loves grass.
Nick_Angel on May 25, 2012 at 2:35 PM
Uhhhh, yeah, since they never cause any problems…Reid?
Or, not in the same category…Ted Bundy…or this guy, Jason Brown
first-degree murder, armed robbery and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, still at large (ironically also a mission in Paris, France)…Butch Cassidy was a Mormon, who woulda thunk…
The fact is, people are people…Mitt is who he is because he is Mitt, not because Mormon’s tell him to be Mitt.
right2bright on May 25, 2012 at 2:35 PM
Smoking cow pies was all the rage in SE Asia at the time Obama was Indonesia. Wonder if President Cow Pies ever tried this:
Thai teens, too. The Cow Pie Preezy was awfully venturesome back in the day. Creative with MJ. Ate dog. Just sayin’.
de rigueur on May 25, 2012 at 2:36 PM
Are any of the other people in those pictures alive, or did they die of natural causes?
The Rogue Tomato on May 25, 2012 at 2:36 PM
He did…one of the mysteries that the media has a problem unravelling…but teams of reporters have gone though countless trash bins in Wasilla…
right2bright on May 25, 2012 at 2:36 PM
But remember that Rush is a true addict, for The One it was simply recreational and a way to interact with others./
Dr. ZhivBlago on May 25, 2012 at 2:36 PM
WTF?
cptacek on May 25, 2012 at 2:37 PM
Goodness – makes me want to run home and watch “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”! Just think, our president was the inspiration for Jeff Spicoli! And about as qualified!
GeorgiaBuckeye on May 25, 2012 at 2:38 PM
If only he was equally concerned with wasting tax-payer money as he was with wasting pot smoke, he might have made a good President.
/
LetsBfrank on May 25, 2012 at 2:38 PM
For some reason this statement just makes my skin crawl.
gophergirl on May 25, 2012 at 2:39 PM
I wasn’t even directing my comment to you. I was directing it to some garment-render who simply couldn’t believe that this country could elect someone with SUCH a background. I was making the point that Republican presidents also have flaws and that this was (yet another) example of right wing hypocrisy.
cjw79 on May 25, 2012 at 2:39 PM
TFGP recently said in Iowa that Romney was presenting a “cow pie of distortion”…
This is some spooky stuff when you think about it.
Bishop on May 25, 2012 at 2:39 PM
What? Obama killed someone with a ball peen hammer?
The Rogue Tomato on May 25, 2012 at 2:40 PM
This is so totally disgusting and where was this stuff 4 years ago? It shouldda sunk his candidacy in a swift nanosecond. So if inhaling makes the guy personable, then I guess he hasn’t been inhaling much lately. And then I also guess Bubba who couldn’t inhale at all wouldda never made it into that gang.
Worst of it is that there are probably hordes of black, white and hispanic youth looking at this and seeing it as “cool” bcuz everything Oburnout does has that cool wow factor. I’d hazard an easy guess that the slimestreamers won’t cover it, Odruggie won’t address it and neither will the clam
uppaign acknowledge it.It is beyond comprehension and totally reprehensible to me that we have a burnout junkie drug addict for a Prezuhdunce–and doesn’t that explain the smug, the thug and the ineptitude, inability and the absolute incompetence of everything this space cadet has screwed up. He’s the pinnacle of hypocrisy.
stukinIL4now on May 25, 2012 at 2:41 PM
Well, Rush has an ultra-important job, whereas for Barry, being preezy’s just a hobby.
Plenty of time to blow massive bowls starting on January 21, 2013 (if he’s not doing so already).
NoDonkey on May 25, 2012 at 2:41 PM
This is shocking news. A teenager in the ’8o’s smoked weed? Articles of Impeachment must be drafted.
plewis on May 25, 2012 at 2:42 PM
Oil Can never said why he was disgusted with TFGP, for all you know he was talking about the little cliquey punk-ass attitude that young Bark had back then.
But yeah I hate right wing hypocrisy too, such as when Bush wanted to re-institute Prohibition even though he liked the liquor when he was younger.
Bishop on May 25, 2012 at 2:45 PM
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