Another Chance to Ask Obama About Legalization

President Obama will be doing a live interview on YouTube this Thursday and, yet again, he wants us to vote on which questions we want answered. I've lost count of how many online voting contests we've been through at this point, but it's a pretty safe bet that questions related to legalizing marijuana and ending the drug war will get the most votes. That's what always happens with these things and if you just sort the page by popularity, you'll see it's about to happen again.

Honestly, it blows me away that the White House is still putting on these sorts of forums, knowing as we all do that questions about legalizing drugs will win and that, in all likelihood, the President won't answer them. Of course, the whole thing is just a big publicity stunt, but it's premised entirely on the concept that people get to vote on what issues they want the President to talk about. That's the hook, and ignoring it makes the whole exercise seem a bit ridiculous.

But you never know. Maybe this time will be different. Maybe after the hype surrounding Prop 19, the President finally has something intelligent to say about marijuana laws. Maybe that's the whole reason they're doing one of these things again, because they must certainly know by now that this question is going to dominate the forum. Maybe Obama will finally expand on the rude and inadequate response he gave us almost two years ago.

Let's not hold our breath, but I do think it's worth clicking over there and voting for the top questions to help keep them in front. Regardless of what the President does or does not say about our issue, he's creating yet another exhibit in the potency and popularity of the movement for drug policy reform. We're winning the debate on the web, and the longer that continues, the harder it becomes for anyone in our political culture to look the other way.