Obama Is Offered a Joint, Shakes Hands With Man in Horse Mask
President Barack Obama hit the streets of Denver yesterday, but he declined to take a hit.
Shortly after the president arrived for a taxpayer-funded fundraising trip in Colorado, a brewery patron boldly offered Obama a joint. Originally posted here on Instagram, a six second video captured the commander-in-chief laughingly decline the opportunity.
Earlier in the day, another Rocky Mountain local appeared in one of those uber-creepy horse-head masks to shake hands with the president. The New York Times' Doug Mills tweeted this picture (right) showing Obama taking it in stride, but check out this one and the mean mug on his security detail.
Regarding the president's pool playing and beer sipping with Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper yesterday, Politico's Jonathan Topaz dryly writes that "Obama … has begun to venture out in Washington, D.C., and interact with more average Americans," which recalls the satirical Onion article in which voters lauded the president's ability to stage a "convincing and authentic approximation of an actual human conscience."
Jokes aside, the president's got a history of laughing about marijuana, but not in a good way. Let's not forget that the former toker proved himself to be a big buzzkill in his first term when he reneged on a pledge to stop raiding legal on California's legal dispensaries and LOL'd at marijuana legalization advocates, dismissing the idea that legal weed would be an economic boon for America.
Besides repairing his own shaky legacy, the president's current mission in Colorado is to help members of his own party whose own political futures are at risk. The Denver Post explains that Rep. Cory Gardner's reelection race "looks to be one of the tightest in the country." Likewise, and "Obama needs [Sen. Mark] Udall to win so Democrats have a fighting chance of keeping control of the Senate."
Today, the president just wrapped up a speech in Denver about middle class jobs, but apparently got ditched by Hickenlooper. Obama will now make his way to Texas, where he will undoubtedly have a less jocular time dealing with the ongoing immigration crisis.