Weâve talked a lot here about Obamaâs reluctance to openly discuss drug policy. Weâve been disappointed if not surprised that our domination of his Change.gov website failed to provoke an intelligent response. As activists, thatâs just what we do and we wonât stop anytime soon.
But weâd be foolish to let our frustration obscure the magnitude of what just happened. The American people just put a person of color in the White House. How many of you thought youâd see this in your lifetime? I didnât. Itâs so incredible to me, I still struggle to process it as the reality of all this periodically penetrates my entrenched political cynicism and I summon for a moment a hope-like sensation that must be what everyoneâs been talking about.
Itâs not about Obama or his policies, itâs about the American people. It shows that weâre capable of transcending centuries of prejudice and idiocy, provided that circumstances are properly aligned. Itâs purely symbolic, of course, but powerfully so.
I guess what Iâm trying to say is that I thought weâd end the drug war long before electing an African-American president. Iâm amazed to learn that legalizing drugs is actually the more difficult undertaking. But so be it. To anyone who says overcoming drug prohibition is just an impossible fantasy, I say "Barack Obama is the president."
But weâd be foolish to let our frustration obscure the magnitude of what just happened. The American people just put a person of color in the White House. How many of you thought youâd see this in your lifetime? I didnât. Itâs so incredible to me, I still struggle to process it as the reality of all this periodically penetrates my entrenched political cynicism and I summon for a moment a hope-like sensation that must be what everyoneâs been talking about.
Itâs not about Obama or his policies, itâs about the American people. It shows that weâre capable of transcending centuries of prejudice and idiocy, provided that circumstances are properly aligned. Itâs purely symbolic, of course, but powerfully so.
I guess what Iâm trying to say is that I thought weâd end the drug war long before electing an African-American president. Iâm amazed to learn that legalizing drugs is actually the more difficult undertaking. But so be it. To anyone who says overcoming drug prohibition is just an impossible fantasy, I say "Barack Obama is the president."
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