I'm disappointed in President Obama for the first time.
This recent commentary on marijuana legalization is a disgrace.
I'm so sick of this "Wink-wink", "Munchie jokes", "Aren't those silly potheads funny?" level of discourse. We expected more from you.
I didn't expect you to say you're all for it, but how about a nuanced discussion? This was the perfect forum and format to raise some serious questions (as you've done in the past).
This is one of the reasons, I, as a member of the "online community" you so cavalierly dismiss, sent you money, rallied my friends and family and generally supported your campaign. Please don't make a fool out of me. I already have to hear it from the Ron Paul/Dennis Kucinich contingent, but this will be simply too much to bear.
Instead of an intelligent response to an obviously popular option, we get this smug, arrogant and flippant remark guaranteed to piss off a portion of your supporting constituency, but also guaranteed to get a cheap laugh from a bunch of imbeciles (including your fawning press corps).
Why are all these press conferences so buddy-buddy? What happened to the intelligent man who knew how to ask and answer tough questions? Have we really been reduced to banal stand-up comedy from the leader of the free world?
None of this seems all that funny to me: In Mexico and Colombia, thousands are being tortured and killed every year. Here in the US, children are taken away from their families. Transplant patients are denied life-saving surgery. Loyal dogs are shot dead with no questions asked, sometimes in botched raids at the wrong location. Non-violent prisoners languish away in jails with real criminals. All this over a harmless flower that's been used as medicine for millennia. And yet still, all we get from you are jokes? For shame.
Well, Mr. President, I put forth to you that this issue, one that myself and many of my colleagues have dedicated their lives to, is not a joke. Will legalization help save the economy? That remains to be seen. Should it be an option on the table? You, yourself have said so many times.
Hopefully, Mr. Obama, there will be yet another outpouring of emails, letters and commentary to refute your premise and return the level of discourse to an intelligent and well-researched discussion.
Then, Mr. President, perhaps the joke will be on you.
Sincerely, Danny Danko
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Beth Mann
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Comments
I'm sorry, but I doubt if many American's see this as a high priority at this point. Perhaps you should stop chiding the President and see if you can come up with a more pressing reason for people to find this issue deserving of greater attention at a time when the there is 10% unemployment, the economy is tanking, we have two wars, half of the states are on the edge of bankruptcy, the US is bankrupt, and the price of gas is starting to rise again. As Ryan Seacrest would say, "I'm sorry Danny, but you'll be going home this week!"
To WCD: Legalization of marijuana would save money at a time when we need every penny. Taxing pot sales could generate well-needed jobs and funds for building and maintaining our infrastructure. I can think of many reasons this issue is deserving of greater attention, some of them listed above (deaths and mayhem in Mexico and Colombia for example).
To BBE: If Obama is right of center then I must be Pol Pot. The 3rd party argument is so tired. They will never win, continuing to sap the strength of progressive democrats to the benefit of real right wingers. Democrats are the only party with the power to make these changes. We must convince them.
One thing that should be done immediately is legalize the farming of hemp. This is an incredibly versitile plant. During WWII hemp seed oil was used in military aircraft as a lubricant. I know some farmers groups have been lobbying to legalize hemp. It could become one of the most important cash crops if legalized.
I'm sorry. I just can't get all that worked up about this particular issue at the moment. I'll come join you when the economy's fixed and the christian right has been beaten down some.
Much ado about nothing.
BBE, is also right, did you really think?
Anyway, legalizing pot will take away all the jobs of people selling it. Most of them have records and would not be employed by the corporations that will be taking over the business. I think it legalizing would stir up all kinds of shit. We have a secondary economy and what will those people do without that money?
Obama was asked question #1. I agree with you that his giggling/smirking was weird. Personally, I do not think marijuana should be legalized to stimulate the economy. I do, however, think that something needs to be done FAST to stop the violence in Mexico and the economic benefits of the drug trade in the middle east. Our insatiable demand is the cause. The demand will continue to be there. Decriminalization is starting to look like the solution to me. There is a risk analysis factor here: Legalize to stimulate the economy. Probably not worth it. Legalize to destroy the cartels and stop funding to terrorist organizations. Probably so.
You see this in his policy toward Wall Street, where he is treating the symptoms rather than cutting out the cancer. And as long as we're talking healthcare, he's doing the same thing with that, when what is needed is to be rid once and for all of HMO's and health insurance companies that overcharge and deny benefits whenever possible.
Still, Obama has made some incremental changes that are very good; reauthorizing stem-call research and requiring environmental impact studies for strip mining are two obvious improvements over the fool he replaced.
He also gives every indication of wanting to reform taxes by requiring wealthy individuals and corporations to actually pay them. But people in Congress will not be anxious to adopt real tax reform because wealthy donors pay to keep them in office. Look for a real battle on this front.
Disappointed as I may be in some of his moves, whatever he accomplishes will be a vast improvement over the Right-Wingnut, Supply-Side, Stupid for Jesus idiocy that has been visited upon us for the much of the last 30 years or so.
Great post! I would love to look the President in the eye and say, "I didn't expect you to say you're all for it, but how about a nuanced discussion? This was the perfect forum and format to raise some serious questions (as you've done in the past)." Well put, nicely said, and stated with passion from a supporter who has a right to be more than a little miffed and even more disappointed in the "change" candidate.
And he's exactly right. It's all about perception. Whether he meant it or not, give him some time.
I'm just sayin'...
But politically, I can't see how this is the time to fight for it. Obama needs all the political capital he has just to deal with the economy. There does seems to a movement afoot to take drug legalization seriously, with conservatives and liberals joining in. I hope, however, that if this issue reaches the point where America can have an adult conversation about it, High Times and NORML will stay as far away from the debate as possible. The last thing America needs in the legalization debate is people whose interest seems to arise from their use.
The feds and plenty of corporations have benefited for years from the "drug war" - not only monetarily but politically as well. Politicians use a tough stance on drugs to get elected regularly and ram legislation that invades privacy and creates more of a police state all the time.
Obama - not Pol Pot, but by no means to the "left" in any way. He's better than the crop of presidents we've had for the past few decades, but not interested in changing the overall order of things. As BBE said, he's beholden to the corporations just like most politicians. They've got no reason to want to change things - there's profit and power to be had.
To Stellaa's point about jobs though, why couldn't drug dealers work as, I don't know, drug dealers!? People would still be buying this stuff. I mean, you're allowed to make your own beer and wine, why not grow your own and sell it your friends? There would be jobs for those people. Keeping jobs in a black market is not a viable argument against legalization. It might be nice to have a thriving black market that many are involved in around Berkeley, but that shit ain't gonna work anywhere else.
I have post about this in other places, but I think the big impediment to legalization is not the drug that is cannabis, but the plant itself. It is a miracle plant that can provide medicine, oil, fiber and does not require a great deal of input to grow. I mean, it is a weed. There are too many companies and industries that are exposed to risk if it becomes legal to grow and process cannabis. Chemical companies that make synthetic fibers. The olive oil industry. Pharmaceutical companies. They are the ones standing in the way. Not law enforcement. The law enforcement officials will make just as much money off of fighting cocaine and other, harder drugs. Either way, I'm not holding my breath on this one. I think we have a long way to wait.
It's just sad to me that so many people have no interest in the freedom of their fellow citizens to live as they wish. As if they just have to wait until it's important enough to other people. I think that's a bullshit attitude. Maybe the women who say that should have to wait until every cares about equal access. You're not setting a very good standard with an attitude like that. I'm sorry for having to say so, but you're not.
You nailed it! There was a time when Obama needed our support but now it's no longer politically advantageous to align with pro-marijuana. I found it as pathetic that his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, went to Mexico to tell them that 30 years of U.S. Gov. drug policy were a total failure, then admitted that the demand-side of the equation is partly to blame but the end result was more of the same old rhetoric.
I don't think that any sensibility will come to this issue any time soon but I do think that the Gov. hears our voice and senses our frustration.
I dare say, we will not solve the economic crises until we begin to come to grips with the fact that those in power are not on "our" side. That loosening the iron grip of control is at the heart of the attempt to simply legalize and intelligently regulate our drug consumption. It is not (aaaaarrrgghhh!) about a bunch of "stoners" wanting to get high.
Thank you for writing about this. Thumbed!