Mike Godwin on How Obama the Pothead Became Obama the Drug Warrior

|


How do you square the young Obama's passion for pot with the Obama administration's aggressive enforcement of federal anti-pot laws in states where medical marijuana has been legalized? Is the president a hypocrite? A liar? A strategically adept politician trying to immunize himself from charges that he's soft on drugs? Is he simply waiting for the right moment to tell us his position on marijuana has "evolved," running just a bit behind his evolved position on same-sex marriage? Barack Obama: The Story, David Maraniss' new biography of the president, doesn't try to answer these vexing current questions. But as Mike Godwin explains, it does give readers several clues why the ex-pothead may have tolerated or even encouraged federal anti-marijuana enforcement.