Dem Congressman: Obama Confused About Power to Reschedule Pot

[fskimospy]

I disagree. This is an issue that he can take sole responsibility for which would effectively shield those democrats. Obama can't run again so he can take the heat. This is especially true when the other option you gave would be direct action from those democrats.

I think this is wrong. First, the campaign ads wouldn't care for a single second that Obama acted alone here. They would just say 'Democrats legalized weed'. I guarantee it.

Second, I didn't give another option. If I had though, this isn't really the case. Congressional action would inherently require the Republican led House to endorse this legalization, which would take a lot of the bite out of it.

As far as reasons for not doing the right thing, politics is not and should never be one of those reasons.

Easy to say as a platitude, easy to refute in practice. Say legalizing weed is the right thing to do, but doing so will cause people to be elected that will do 10 other wrong things. Is legalizing weed still the right thing to do? Probably not.

 

[fskimospy]

So Obama needs to use his executive power to make the change personally is what you're saying. Weren't all the conservatives up in arms over his use of executive orders? So now that he lets congress decide, you're up in arms over his inaction?

I'm no fan of Obama, but you fucks need to be consistent.

I'm not a conservative, I agree with the use of executive orders, and I think he should use them here.

I'm a fairly large fan of Obama, but I think he is wrong here.

EDIT: Your complaint seems to be about conservatives' selective outrage over the use of executive authority and it is completely valid. I think if you look at my other posts I specifically mentioned how I believe that had he actually exercised his authority in this manner the conservatives here complaining about his inaction would be calling him a dictator. For a lot of people here the goal is to attack Obama first, analyze policy second.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

The two aren't mutually exclusive.

He's the consummate apologist.

 

[Jhhnn]

Unfortunately the political winds in the White House change rather rapidly. What if Obama does nothing and the next guy ratchets up DEA enforcement and effectively overrules the states laws?

With any luck at all, it'll be way too late for the next Admin to even contemplate such a thing. From a practical viewpoint, that's already impossible in CO because of personal growing provisions in the state constitution.

OTOH, if he acts now it is a hellofa lot more politically unfeasible to change the law back than it is to simply tell the DEA to step up enforcement of existing law. That goes 10 fold when all the doom and gloom bullshit doesn't happen.

That would be premature. We need to demonstrate sane, successful legalization in CO before moving up to the federal level. With that, prohibitionists will be well & truly fucked. We won't have long to wait, but we do need to wait for that asset to come to maturity. Obama & Holder are currently enabling that, make no mistake about it.

 

[woolfe9998]

Obama should just do it, now. The most recent poll shows Americans favoring legalization by a 15 point margin. Which means the only areas of the country not favoring it are deep red, socially conservative areas, i.e. the bible belt, where they aren't going to elect any democrats to office any time soon.

While Obama may in fact be holding back because he is concerned about republican demagoguery, his concern is misplaced. He's being too politically cautious. If the republicans try to make hay of it, it will backfire on them.

For the "harder drugs," I think the current policy with regard to pot - where the feds won't interfere with state legalization - is the correct policy. Let the states first experiment with legalizing the harder drugs. But for pot - the research has been in for a long time. This is not a particularly dangerous substance. And the poll numbers are finally catching up to the research. It's time.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

I wonder how long it will be before we see Mothers Against Potheads Driving.

 

[Jhhnn]

He's the consummate apologist.

Heh. Before too much longer, you'll recognize it for what it is- Winning. Had legalization advocates played it the way you want, it'd be losing.

With Obama's blessing, we'll likely keep winning, too.

Of the choices available to the Admin at the time CO & WA citizens legalized cannabis, I think the Admin made a good one, & the one that makes the fewest waves. We get an unfettered chance to show how well it'll work. It's all we need, all we ever needed to put this sad episode of cannabis prohibition behind us, resolve one of the most damaging & divisive issues of my lifetime. If it takes a few (very few) more years to get there completely, at least we know how to get there.

Trying to make it all about Obama is just an attempt to muddy the waters, conflate the issues, obscure the objective. It's a sucker play.

 

[kage69]

I wonder how long it will be before we see Mothers Against Potheads Driving.

I wouldn't hold your breath. I think those mothers are more concerned with the body count from alcohol related accidents.

People who drive too slow and miss their exits? Not so much.

 

[BoberFett]

I don't know how Jhhnhnhn would even find room in his mouth to put a joint...

 

[Matt1970]

I wouldn't hold your breath. I think those mothers are more concerned with the body count from alcohol related accidents.

People who drive too slow and miss their exits? Not so much.

You don't get a good buzz if you don't hold it in.

 

[Jhhnn]

I don't know how Jhhnhnhn would even find room in his mouth to put a joint...

You're so cute when you whine in that snide manner.

Never change, huh?

 

[Fern]

So Obama needs to use his executive power to make the change personally is what you're saying. Weren't all the conservatives up in arms over his use of executive orders? So now that he lets congress decide, you're up in arms over his inaction?

I'm no fan of Obama, but you fucks need to be consistent.

False analogy.

The law, as passed by Congress, specifically places the authority for schedule classification in the hands of the Executive branch (President), in fact naming the DoJ and Secretary of HHS. This is completely different from the complaints about certain EO's.

As previously quoted/linked in this thread the law can be found here: http://www.fda.gov/regulatoryinformation/legislation/ucm148726.htm

Direct your attention to Part B, Section 811.

Fern

 

[marincounty]

He's the consummate apologist.

Lots of Americans seem to prefer Republicans, who never apologize for anything.
Wrecked the economy? The next guy can fix it.
Went to war on false pretenses? The next guy will get us out.

 

[BoberFett]

Lots of Americans seem to prefer Republicans, who never apologize for anything.
Wrecked the economy? The next guy can fix it.
Went to war on false pretenses? The next guy will get us out.

I don't think that means what you think it means.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Lots of Americans seem to prefer Republicans, who never apologize for anything.
Wrecked the economy? The next guy can fix it.
Went to war on false pretenses? The next guy will get us out.

You seem to not understand what "apologist" means.

 

[BoberFett]

Never change, huh?

Nope, I still hate sycophants like you.

 

[kage69]

You don't get a good buzz if you don't hold it in.

I'm sure Londo will take that into consideration. I'll make a note of idioms not being your thing.

My point was it will take a long time for pot to rack up a comparable body count. Not that it matters, MADD has been around for awhile yet I still see plenty of booze and plenty of people committing DUIs. Were pot to become legal, the huge corporate jump into that emerging market would confer the same kind of financial, legal and political protection that so many enjoy in the world of alcohol. Anything grassroots with mediocre funding like MADD aimed at pot will have a similar effect I'd bet.

 

[hal2kilo]

I wouldn't hold your breath. I think those mothers are more concerned with the body count from alcohol related accidents.

People who drive too slow and miss their exits? Not so much.

I wish it would be so. I'm sure the revenuer's, erh, I mean the cops, are chomping at the bit for this next revenue stream.

 

[werepossum]

I don't know how Jhhnhnhn would even find room in his mouth to put a joint...

Not to mention the dangers inherent in introducing flame deep into Obama's nether regions.