As we noted, the most popular question for today’s “virtual town hall” at the White House involved legalizing marijuana as an economic stimulus. Over 2,000 such questions got submitted, by far the most popular topic, but Obama ridiculed the notion:
I don’t know what this says about the on-line audience, but, uh, but, I just want, I don’t want people to think, uh … This was a fairly popular question. We wanted to make sure it was answered. Uh, the answer is no, I don’t think that is a good strategy to grow our economy.
First, if Obama is so dismissive of on-line audiences, why did he choose to do a “virtual town hall”? Why not just limit it to the people in the room — who, based on their reactions, may have more sympathy for legalization than Obama does?
Beyond that, I wonder what Democratic legislators in California think of Obama’s dismissive attitude. They’re arguing for legalization explicitly for marijuana’s economy to help boost revenues in the Golden State. They’re likely to consider this a bummer, a real downer that will severely harsh their mellow in the weeks to come.
Just another example of The Man keeping us down, dude.
Here’s Obama in 2004, sounding much less dismissive about the notion of marijuana, although still opposing its outright legalization:
