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January 31, 2008
Obama was for it before he was against it
Thomas Lifson
Decriminalizing marijuana, that is. Jen Haberkorn of the Washington Times reports that last Fall during a presidential debate Barack Obama
"hesitantly raised his hand and joined with most of his Democratic rivals to declare that he opposed decriminalizing marijuana," and provides a video clip showing the event.
But there is a second video available in her article, one showing Obama running for the Senate four years ago and telling college students:
""I think we need to rethink and decriminalize our marijuana laws," Mr. Obama told an audience during a debate at Northwestern University in 2004. "But I'm not somebody who believes in legalization of marijuana."
Asked about the two different answers, Mr. Obama's presidential campaign said he in fact has "always" supported decriminalizing marijuana as he answered in 2004, meaning the candidate mistakenly raised his hand during the presidential debate last fall. [emphasis added]
That position leaves Mr. Obama as the lone presidential candidate among the four leading challengers in either party who supports eliminating criminal penalties for marijuana.
So the candidate mistakenly took a position counter to his real views and has not corrected the mistake over a period of several months. Did he really believe the other candidates supported decriminalization?
Haberkorn also reports that there are several other positions on which Obama has taken varying positions, and promises a full report in tomorrow's paper.
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