Last week’s high profile dipping of the presidential toe into cyberspace demonstrated the dangers of letting the people ask questions without the benefit of a teleprompter.
“There was one question that was voted on that ranked fairly high. That was whether legalizing marijuana would improve the economy and job creation,” Obama chuckled. “I don’t know what this says about the online audience.”
“This was a fairly popular question. We want to make sure it was answered. The answer is no, I don’t think that is a good strategy to grow our economy,” he said to a laughing East Room audience.
More than 90,000 questions were submitted to the White House website. Forget energy, the economy, terror, and healthcare. Seven of the 10 questions receiving the most votes revolved around the legalizing pot.
As usual, President Obama blew smoke. But for once his audience appreciated it.
Source: Politico
This post was last modified on October 18, 2023
View Comments (2)
I respect Obama he is probably the most talented politician of my life time. President Obama seems to posse’s insightful, reasonable judgment on many issues. In the case of marijuana prohibition laws I find Obama’s choice to answer with mocking humor to be lacking. Smoking marijuana is an easy thing to laugh about, it seems there is something about being stoned that brings a smile to people’s faces, however marijuana prohibition is not a joke. We should not be making jokes as millions of Americans are arrested and detained for nothing more than being caught on the wrong side of moral politicking, we should not laugh as we spend over 30 billion dollars a year going after Americans for smoking weed, we should not giggle and poke fun as we watch billions of dollars in tax revenue slip through our fingers each year, and should we tilt our heads back with glee as thousands of people are murdered by cartels profiting from America’s moral hypocrisy. I believe there are profound latent consequences in prohibition that are not even factored in to our assessments of the effects of illegality, such as how we view the rule of law and the role of law enforcement in the community, the divisiveness between users and non users, the stigma of mental shock of incarceration. For anybody reading this I say pot prohibition is no joke it has real costs paid for in real lives. I personally believe that a freedom is achieved in a country placing responsibility in the hands of the citizen and not by legally enforcing morality.
SunflowerPipes.com
don't bogart that bailout, my friend, pass it over to me