Barack Obama said that his admitted use of marijuana and cocaine as a young man should not have any bearing on his fitness to lead the country as a middle-aged adult, the Des Moines Register reported Dec. 15.

"I can't say how Americans think generally about it. I do think that the average American believes that what somebody does when they were a teenager 30 years ago is probably not relevant to how they are going to be performing as commander in chief and president of the United States," Obama said. "I think people have pretty good judgment about that."

Obama was responding to reporters' questions about remarks by a prominent supporter of rival Sen. Hillary Clinton, William Shaheen, who said that Republicans would make Obama's drug use a campaign issue if he won the Democratic nomination.

Clinton repudiated the remarks, and Shaheen resigned as co-chair of her New Hampshire campaign. "I reject completely the kind of line-crossing that I've stood up against," Clinton said. Obama said he spoke to Clinton after the incident.

“I said I appreciated the apology,” Obama said. “I suggested… that it was important for us, as the heads of our campaigns, to make sure that we’re sending a clear message that this is not the kind of tone that we should tolerate.”