Daily Loaf

(Photo Credit: Chad Davis via Flickr.)

Barack Obama has been a busy President-Elect. In addition to trying to stay out of the Blago fray, appointing new cabinet secretaries and expressing his disappointment with Congress’ handling of the Auto Bailout, Obama is reaching out to you, the American citizenry, to find out what you think are the most important issues facing the nation.

To this end, the Obama transition team has launched “Open for Questions,” a new feature on the change.gov website. Per the site:

We’re tremendously excited about the promise of tools like this that offer Americans a level of access that has historically been hard to come by. By voting questions up, users have been able to convey to our team which major issues — like the auto industry, health care, ethical standards, and others — are the most important to this community.

Over the next few days, some of the most popular questions selected by the Change.gov community will be answered by the Transition team, and their responses will be posted here on the site.

And how has the response been?

Participation in Open for Questions outpaced our expectations. … Since its launch yesterday [Wednesday], the Open for Questions tool has processed over 600,000 votes from more than 10,000 people on more than 7,300 questions.

Good for us, America. The President-Elect wants to hear from us, and we have answered. So, what’s the number one question on the minds of the 10,000+ people who voted on the questions?

“Will you consider legalizing marijuana so that the government can regulate it, tax it, put age limits on it, and create millions of new jobs and create a billion dollar industry right here in the U.S.?”
S. Man, Denton

This is an excellent question, and not just because I explored similar ground in a post last week. In many ways, the economic conditions that led to the repeal of prohibition are now back in play. The government needs money and it needs it now. Why not legalize and regulate what is already a $32 billion industry?

Despite his pledge to answer the most popular questions, I have a hard time believing the President Elect will touch this one. First off, you’ll note that the site makes a chickenshit hedge by pledging to answer “some” of the most popular questions. Secondly, as soon as anyone near the Obama administration says the words “legalize Marijuana,” the Republican noise machine will tar and feather Obama as “soft on crime.” The debate would quickly take a nose dive into hysterical culture waring, and that’s something Obama has shown no stomach for at all. If this issue is to be addressed, it’s going to be in Obama’s second term (if we ever get that far), when he’s done running for office.

But Obama is going to have to address the Marijuana legalization issue eventually. As the celebrated “First Black President” there is certain to be pressure on Obama from some of his constituency to address what is, in essence, an issue of minority oppression. Yes, all creeds and colors smoke dope and get arrested for it, but Blacks and Latinos make up a disproportionate number of those sent to the slammer.

So, will Obama have the nuts to answer the most popular question posed to him by his supporters on his own website? Stay tuned…

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