When you look at niche groups, in this case marijuana users, Obama supporters are quickly coming to understand, that he is no where to be found. This group, like Hispanics, gays, democrats and any other disaffected group that he could put together, soon find out that the President makes great speeches (actually some are soaring, if his friend the teleprompter is present) but the substance, the follow through is missing. He talks a lot but gets little done. Kinda sounds like a community organizer! He talks and let others do the work.
In Detroit, our last mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, also gave enthralling speeches. Most Detroiters loved him. He was known as the "hip-hop mayor." Trouble is that he never did anything positive for the city. All of his work was to fill up his and his friends pockets with money from the city coffers all the while carrying on an affair with his Chief of Staff. He left a declining city in significantly worse shape.
We see similarities with Obama. To name a couple, we see Solyndra and other "green companies" who ultimately failed getting money from the government and then we find out that most of the owners are friends of Obama (FOOs). The unions won big in the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies, they are FOOs. The banks get special deals from the Fed and Obama and their Presidents and CEOs are protected from prosecution because they are FOOs. Do you see a pattern here?
However, marijuana users are not FOOs so they get nothing but rhetoric. It is also true for the middle class. They cannot enrich the President or his minions, so they get nothing. He operates from the standpoint "what have you done for me lately?" regardless of what he says on the stump.
Speeches don't necessarily relate to accomplishments. Getting things done takes work, something that Obama (or Kwame) has never had to do in his life. People have greased his track from the time he was born. He has never had to really put in a hard days work. Don't expect that he will ever do anything but the very easiest, least taxing (in work, not money), least controversial actions possible. He is not there to advance anything but himself and his friends.
So unless you are a FOO, expect to have smoke blown up your posterior and realize he will not do anything for you, in the end.
Conservative Tom
In Detroit, our last mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, also gave enthralling speeches. Most Detroiters loved him. He was known as the "hip-hop mayor." Trouble is that he never did anything positive for the city. All of his work was to fill up his and his friends pockets with money from the city coffers all the while carrying on an affair with his Chief of Staff. He left a declining city in significantly worse shape.
We see similarities with Obama. To name a couple, we see Solyndra and other "green companies" who ultimately failed getting money from the government and then we find out that most of the owners are friends of Obama (FOOs). The unions won big in the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies, they are FOOs. The banks get special deals from the Fed and Obama and their Presidents and CEOs are protected from prosecution because they are FOOs. Do you see a pattern here?
However, marijuana users are not FOOs so they get nothing but rhetoric. It is also true for the middle class. They cannot enrich the President or his minions, so they get nothing. He operates from the standpoint "what have you done for me lately?" regardless of what he says on the stump.
Speeches don't necessarily relate to accomplishments. Getting things done takes work, something that Obama (or Kwame) has never had to do in his life. People have greased his track from the time he was born. He has never had to really put in a hard days work. Don't expect that he will ever do anything but the very easiest, least taxing (in work, not money), least controversial actions possible. He is not there to advance anything but himself and his friends.
So unless you are a FOO, expect to have smoke blown up your posterior and realize he will not do anything for you, in the end.
Conservative Tom
Writing at The Atlantic Wire, Elspeth Reeve suggests that marijuana reform measures on several state ballots this fall could help Barack Obama win re-election by drawing young voters to the polls. If that happens, the headline says, "legalizing weed" could be "Obama's secret weapon." Well, not so secret anymore, now that people are writing about it. In any case, Reeve warns, "past attempts to bong the vote have been disappointing, in part because stoners aren't the group anyone would most count on to bother filling out a ballot." Ha ha! It's funny because it's true: Voters who think it's absurd that the government continues to arrest 750,000 or so people every year for possessing a plant can never get it together, because they are constantly high. Likewise, it's amazing that drinkers in Washington state managed to pass a ballot intitiative privatizing liquor sales last fall, because everyone knows those people are so wasted all the time they don't even know when it's Election Day.
In fact, pot smokers are so stupid that even if they manage to put down their bongs, get up off their couches, turn off their Xboxes, dust off the Dorito dust, and meander to the polls, they won't realize that Barack Obama, despite his own extensive history of drug use and his promises of a more enlightened and compassionate approach, has been no better than George W. Bush on drug policy and in some respects worse. They probably don't even know that Obama cracked down on medical marijuana instead of letting states go their own way (as he said he would when he ran for president), that so far he has commuted ony one drug offender's sentence (despite his pre-presidential criticism of excessively harsh penalties), or that he literally laughs at the very notion of legalizing marijuana (despite his past support for decriminalization)—in much the same way that Reeve laughs at people who are misguided enough to let the ongoing outrage that is the war on drugs guide their votes. If such people exist, they sure as hell should not vote for Barack Obama.
From the article...
ReplyDelete"In fact, pot smokers are so stupid that even if they manage to put down their bongs, get up off their couches, turn off their Xboxes, dust off the Dorito dust, and meander to the polls, they won't realize that Barack Obama, despite his own extensive history of drug use and his promises of a more enlightened and compassionate approach, has been no better than George W. Bush on drug policy and in some respects worse."
True. The War on Drugs started with Reagan and has never stopped. We are the only country in the world that wastes billions of dollars locking up marijuana smokers. We have 3% of the world's population and 25% of the world's prisoners. Ron Paul is the only candidate from either party who understands that legalizing drugs is not only a liberty issue; it is an economic issue. If you want to stop the Mexican drug lords, legalize marijuana and tax it like booze and cigarettes. My two cents.
--David
You may fall off your chair when you read this, however, I have been a proponent of legalizing drugs for years. Tax it, control it and the profits will go away and so will crime. We should have learned that lesson from prohibition.
ReplyDeleteYou agree with Ron on drugs and the Federal Reserve. Now if only we could get you guys onboard with cutting military and adopting non-interventionist foreign policy. I know that's asking a lot. But how about my modest proposal of matching China's military budget dollar-for-dollar for the next 20 years? Are you okay with that for starters? All our high-tech nuclear submarines stealth bombers are worthless fighting Arabs in the deserts.
ReplyDelete--David
Legalize and tax it? Simplistic idea that will never work. There is too much profit in the illegal drug trade, that flows back to the politicians. The dope dealers just buy what they need, up to, and including countries (Mexico, Colombia, Afghanistan). This de-facto political ownership and control becomes reality with diplomacy and lobbying, and the money flows. The war on drugs was lost long ago. But any war is a "raison d' etre" for freewheeling government budgets. There are too many dogs in this fight.
ReplyDeleteexspookjohn
There is a ton of profit in regular cigarettes for the cigarette companies as well as for the government through cigarette sales taxes. So, why are the marijuana dealers not competing for these profits as they are for marijuana sales? Answer: Because they nearly have a monopoly in one market but would face stiff competition in the other. The state of California could make a lot of money to help their budget woes.
ReplyDelete