You, uh, saw that winking smilie right? 
I say it’s never okay for the president to be drunk. He may be a glorified CEO, but he still has one set of keys to the very big guns. That’s a lot of responsibility. The president shouldn’t intentionally do things that could cloud his mind.
But I also will reveal my bias. I don’t drink for a few reasons, and I don’t view drinking as a necessity, even in a social setting. Please understand that I’m not saying that no one should drink because I am not saying that. I simply don’t view the consumption of alcohol as a social requirement. If we were to elect a teetotaler to office (I concede that is highly unlikely), he or she should be free to abstain without feeling the pressure to consume.
Should we assume that all the politicians we see, but have never once seen drunk, are abstaining? I’d say no. I’d guess politicians, if they are to rise, are savvy enough to understand to drink only moderately, in public, and should they wish to get drunk, do so privately and with discretion.
I kinda feel that by the time you’ve risen to being on the ballot for president you have already mastered this wisdom.
Do I assume that nary a president has been shitfaced in the White House? Hardly!
Discretion is all, in politics!
Which reminds me, Marion Barry died the other day.
To clarify (ironically, I was a little tipsy when I typed that post), I didn’t find anything worthy of criticism in GWB’s reaction to the 9/11 attacks, and thought Moore’s film was a hatchet job - even speaking as someone who hated his presidency.
I was just pointing out that if he had been completely trashed when those attacks happened - like, literally two hours from being able to make a well-considered decision - that would have been a problem.
I don’t see how those two scenarios are comparable.
I have this mental image of something like the Hot Line conversation with the drunk-off-his-ass Soviet Premier in Doctor Strangelove.
George W. Bush? Not while in office at least. Hayes and Lincoln apparently? Possibly Biden?
Only in private. With the FLOTUS on a special occasion or when it’s sexy time. That’s it.
Heh, sorry about that JT Allow me to direct that post towards Anaamika:
I’m saying it’s more likely the President would get struck by lightning than it is that a nuclear attack scare would happen at the exact time the President happened to be drunk. (Which would be no more than two times a year, mind you.)
4th of July and Super Bowl Sunday?
Do the First Nations people feel that way as well?
It did happen to Yeltsin, though granted he was apparently drunk most of the time. And unlikely as it is, given the potential scale of the problems perhaps he, or potentially she, can stay off the sauce for a while, its not that big a sacrifice.
But then I can take or leave alcohol so if someone told me I had to stay sober for the next eight years it wouldn’t particularly bother me.
I resemble that comment!
So, three out of 44? I won’t count Biden since he is vice-president, not president.
Assuming that the three listed abstained while in office, that is a 7% teetotaler rate. I still contend that “highly unlikely” fits.
Thanks for the info. I didn’t know. 
hmm, that pretzel incident looked mighty suspicious. Though, perhaps the damage was done well and years ago, he did not have to drink.
Old Handsome Joe is Cheney to to Obama’s Bush.
As for Nixon and Johnson, did they ever make decisions sober?
I’d more or less agree.