So, Mr. Outreach had his first “virtual town hall” today, answering the questions most on the minds of people who travel teh intertubes. High (sic!) on their list: legalizing and taxing marijuana. How about it, Mr. President?
Mr. Obama did just liven things up when he addressed a question that was among the most popular on his site — about whether legalizing marijuana could spawn job creation by allowing the government to regulate and tax the drug.
“There was one question that was voted on that ranked fairly high and that was whether legalizing marijuana would improve the economy and job creation, and I don’t know what this says about the online audience ,” Mr.Obama said, drawing a laugh. He said he wanted to make sure the question got answered. “The answer is no, I don’t think that was a good strategy.”
Yeah, very funny. I guess we should just stick to the current smash hit of a war on drugs, and continue to stick thousands of people in jail at taxpayer expense for their use of a recreational drug proven less dangerous than tobacco and alcohol. That’s a winning strategy. And carrying on with that flawed policy without even considering an alternative is just so damn change-y and revolutionary it makes me want to light up.
Given that Mr. Obama clearly doesn’t think highly (hah!) of the people who asked a pretty serious question — why the hell do we continue with Prohibition 2.0 when it clearly isn’t working and is costing us lives and billions of dollars — I guess he’s also just going to laugh off Harvard Professor Jeffrey Miron, who recently outlined the obvious advantages to legalization in connection with the ongoing battle to prevent the flow of drugs from Mexico. Since Obama doesn’t give a shit about those DFH‘s and their blogs, I assume he’ll continue to blow off the genuine concerns of Americans and get his cautious, ineffective advice from his posse of beltway insiders and clueless ex-Clinton has-beens.
Douche.
Update: In a follow-up (I guess they realized this wasn’t some half-baked joke, but an actual question that might, you know, require an actual answer) Obama’s spokes-clown, Gibbs, basically proved to the world that neither he nor the preznit have the courage to admit that there really is no economic, social, or legal justification to continue the hypocrisy of keeping marijuana illegal. This was just the lamest punt since Ari Fleischer lied for a living.
Update: Of course, some Senators and some State assemblies actually get that this is a problem that needs to be addressed. Too bad their attempts to deal with this like grown-ups just got knee-capped by Sir Laugh-a-Lot and his flippant remark.
Update: Others think Obama’s lame joke was pathetic, too. Greenwald, in discussing Webb’s courageous initative to reform the prison system, calls out Obama’s obvious inability to think outside the realm of Beltway banditry, quoting a Politco story that, deliciously, referred to Obama’s remark as “adolescent, condescending snickering.”
