The Courage of Jim Webb

PotShot · 03-30-2009, 11:14 PM

First off, take a look at Glen Greenwald's latest article at Salon.com. It is quite a read. It is also fantastic.

Anyhow, on to the rest of the spiel.

It is coming on close to a week since President Obama revealed himself to be a prohibitionist. We still don't have a good reason or argument from him on this account, but many here at MJ.com and elsewhere have put forth the notion that he is simply being a "smart politician" who doesn't want to spend his "political capital" on something that would be divisive and distracting from the business at hand: passing his huge budget.

I can accept this, and I suppose it seems to be the most likely story. It is obvious that Obama isn't a dummy. However, if this is to believed, then it makes him a liar.

Contrast this with Senator Jim Webb of Virginia. Lately he can be seen making speeches on the Senate floor decrying our current policy, and the prison-industrial complex that is supported by it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Webb

Let's start with a premise that I don't think a lot of Americans are aware of. We have 5% of the world's population; we have 25% of the world's known prison population. We have an incarceration rate in the United States, the world's greatest democracy, that is five times as high as the average incarceration rate of the rest of the world. There are only two possibilities here: either we have the most evil people on earth living in the United States; or we are doing something dramatically wrong in terms of how we approach the issue of criminal justice. . . .

The elephant in the bedroom in many discussions on the criminal justice system is the sharp increase in drug incarceration over the past three decades. In 1980, we had 41,000 drug offenders in prison; today we have more than 500,000, an increase of 1,200%. The blue disks represent the numbers in 1980; the red disks represent the numbers in 2007 and a significant percentage of those incarcerated are for possession or nonviolent offenses stemming from drug addiction and those sorts of related behavioral issues. . . .

Amazing stuff eh? THIS is the kind of stuff I would like to see coming out of Obama. Glen goes on to say:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glen Greenwald

Webb's actions here underscore a broader point. Our political class has trained so many citizens not only to tolerate, but to endorse, cowardly behavior on the part of their political leaders. When politicians take bad positions, ones that are opposed by large numbers of their supporters, it is not only the politicians, but also huge numbers of their supporters, who step forward to offer excuses and justifications: well, they have to take that position because it's too politically risky not to; they have no choice and it's the smart thing to do. That's the excuse one heard for years as Democrats meekly acquiesced to or actively supported virtually every extremist Bush policy from the attack on Iraq to torture and warrantless eavesdropping; it's the excuse which even progressives offer for why their political leaders won't advocate for marriage equality or defense spending cuts; and it's the same excuse one hears now to justify virtually every Obama "disappointment."

Read that a few times. We absolutely cannot let Obama slid on by using the political "suaveness" or "clever tactics" argument. How however you wanna put it. I say the proper definition of Obama's recent actions is cowardliness.

Thoughts?

KillerWeed420 · 03-31-2009, 02:49 AM

Its good to see more and more people in power taking a commonsense look at this issue.

TheQuestionMark · 03-31-2009, 06:37 AM

I hate Obama, you should too

PotShot · 03-31-2009, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheQuestionMark

I hate Obama, you should too

There is no reason to hate the man. However, there is a very good reason to be extremely skeptical of everything he says and does.

DoobieBrother · 03-31-2009, 03:29 PM

I'm done with letting things slide. I don't buy into the whole "he has to do what he's got to do because he's a politician". Sorry, but that doesn't fly with me anymore. I want answers. I want action. I'm not making excuses anymore for every new president that comes along. I'm too old for that shit.

03-31-2009, 06:37 AM	#3
TheQuestionMark Sr. Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 570 Grams: 5,177.75 Thanks: 164 Thanked 188 Times in 97 Posts Stock Portfolio Total Value: 0.000 Gain/Loss: 0.000%	I hate Obama, you should too __________________ "I love you Mary Jane" -Spiderman

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