White House Press Secretary Answers More Questions
March 31st, 2009 by RickWhite House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs is asked to clarify President Obama’s position on legalizing marijuana and on medical marijuana after he brought up the topic in the first Online Town Hall. Questions involving marijuana reform appeared in several categories and received far more votes than any other policy issue.
Yet again marijuana is mentioned and it leads to laughter from both the press and Press Secretary. Is this issue really that amusing or are we just ignoring the neon pink elephant in the room? It’s interesting that the following questions only pushed the issue further. The legalization of medical marijuana was brought up.
Gibbs seemed flustered and simply said it’s a Department of Justice matter. It seemed as if Gibbs was becoming frustrated and he finally set the record straight, President Obama is against the legalization of marijuana. He does not feel that is the right plan for America. Gibbs even went as far as implying that interest groups rigged the voting by having their supporters vote as many times as they could.
Really? It couldn’t be that those votes actually came from ordinary people online, across the country? What are the chances that the voters were the same people that brought Obama the presidency?
The Online Town Hall meeting was his idea, a way to reach out and entertain questions from the public. The public responded. Apparently the states responded themselves, by introducing medical marijuana and decriminalization bills. The decision for legalizing marijuana shouldn’t rest in the hands of the government anyhow, the states should be deciding on what they want to do about the issue.
Obama’s First Good Step Regarding Federal Raids
February 12th, 2009 by Perry
Recently, Obama’s White House showed he might live up to the promise of change that swept him into office.
In response to federal raids on several Los Angeles-area dispensaries, White House Spokesman Nick Shapiro said, “federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws,” and as the Obama cabinet takes shape, he expects new policies to reflect the new prioritization.
It could have been smoke-and-mirrors political gobbledygook; granted. However, a sliver is more than anyone would have ever hoped for from the previous administration.
It’s also, as the Alternet blog points out, a good first step.
