Let’s say he HAD said something like “Good point, there are pluses and minuses to that argument, but we should at least explore the possibility of legalizing marijuana”. The next 3 news cycles would have been dominated by talking heads and pundits from groups with words like “Family”, “Children”, “Drug Free”, and “Concerned” in their titles. Republicans would have had a field day, police groups would be up in arms, and many dems would have turned on him as well.

High risk, low reward to support ending the drug war. You have to get the biggest voting blocks on your side first, and then you’ll provide enough cover for the politicians to act.

AAAAAAARRRRGH! *thud*

good grief.

It’s not just stoners who care about these things.

I’m not going to begin to go into why I believe in legalization, it would take more space than I have here and more time than I have now. Suffice it to say I believe alcohol prohibition is a fine example of both sides of the coin.

time for Jim Bell!

Re. the DEA raid, it’s hard to tell what “alleged financial improprieties related to the payment of sales taxes” means, but it could be a fancy way of saying “we think they were dealing on the side” which obviously would merit a raid.

Re. the pot questions–it’d be nice to see him take a stand for legalization or at least discuss it in depth, but I’m not sure what the point would be, given that it’s congress that would have to actually act on the issue, and support in congress seems lukewarm at best (not to mention a large portion of congress seems determined to oppose in the strongest way possible just about anything that Obama suggests, wants, or supports).

The way Obama handled the legalization question is disappointing. He didn’t have to answer the question with respect to the economy, he simply did that to make the question sound more ridiculous. I guess the lowly internet users aren’t good enough to engage in conversation with representatives at a town hall. The newspapers have been asking the legalization questions in editorials all over the country. If one of these papers could pose the question at a press conference, maybe while discussing the Mexican drug war, we might see a more serious response. It really isn’t a hard question to answer, even if you want to be “politically safe.” Simply say you will charter a commission to study the issue and that will be good enough for me, at least for now.

Healthcare reform #2
Green Jobs and Energy #1 & #2
Financial Stability #1, #2, #3,#4
Jobs #1, #3
Budget #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7

Appropriateness of category questions aside, just as a simple experiment in responded to the people, he should’ve made an actual real honest statement about the topic when there was such a clear and strong interest in it.