PRO-MARIJUANA GROUPS HIJACK OBAMA'S CHAT ROOM

President Tried to Promote His $3.6-Trillion Proposed Budget During An
Online Forum, but Pro-Pot Questions Dominated the Discussion

WASHINGTON -- It's no surprise that Barack Obama doesn't want to
legalize marijuana. It is a surprise that he had to say so, yesterday,
because so many people wanted to know. Mr. Obama hosted the first-ever
online presidential town hall, answering questions that were chosen by
participants themselves.

It's the latest technological transformation of the age-old game of
mobilizing voters behind a political campaign.

"When I was running for president, I promised to open up the White
House to the American people," Mr. Obama said at the opening of the
forum. "And this event, which is being streamed live over the
Internet, marks an important step towards achieving that goal."

The real goal, however, was to use a new Internet tool to promote his
$3.6-trillion proposed budget, which Republicans and even some
Democrats in Congress believe will lead to skyrocketing deficits and
debt.

Anyone who wanted to this week could log on to whitehouse.gov and
submit a question, either by e-mail or by video, for Mr. Obama to
answer, in 11 categories related to Mr. Obama's proposed budget. More
important, they could approve or disapprove of the questions of others.

The White House did not report how many people logged on to the site.
But just under 93,000 people submitted just over 100,000 questions and
3.6 million votes were cast. Yesterday, surrounded by an invited
audience, the President provided his answers to some of the most
popular questions, in an event from the East Room of the White House
that was streamed on the Web to an estimated audience of 67,000
viewers and that was also aired by CNN.

But the ability of interest groups to hijack public discourse is
boundless.

Spurred by the pro-marijuana group NORML, questions advocating the
legalization of marijuana led in popularity in many categories. In the
category of budget, for example, the seven most highly rated questions
were all marijuana-related.

And in the green jobs and energy category, the most popular question
was: "Will you consider decriminalizing the recreational/medical use
of marijuana(hemp) so that the government can regulate it, tax it, put
age limits on it, and create millions of new jobs and a multibillion
dollar industry right here in the U.S.?"

For the most part, the President ignored the campaign, answering other
questions that had received many votes of support.

But at one point he did acknowledge the popularity of pot-related
questions, joking that "I don't know what this says about the online
audience," and adding: "No, I don't think that is a good strategy to
grow our economy."

For the rest of the time, the President focused on health care,
education and energy, the cornerstones of the budget he is trying to
convince Congress to adopt. In that context, the event was simply the
latest in Mr. Obama's campaign to mobilize support behind his budget.
The White House has already recruited the multitude of names on
barackobama.com to canvass in neighbourhoods and to flood Congress
with messages of support for the budget.

Mr. Obama's plans would see major increases in funding for education
and non-fossil energy sources, and would finance a greatly expanded
public-sector health-care system, while increasing the annual deficit,
at least in the short term, to more than a trillion dollars.

But there are headwinds. Congressional Republicans released a budget
alternative yesterday called "Road to Recovery." It is only 17 pages
and beyond vague. Its plan for curbing spending simply promises to
ensure "the federal budget cannot grow faster than families' ability
to pay the bill."

But there are promises of tax cuts and private-sector solutions to
contain rising health-care costs. The Republicans are hoping that they
can corral conservative Democrats, especially in the Senate, into
voting or watering down Mr. Obama's proposals.

The Democratic campaign, online and on the ground, aims to shore up
congressional support by demonstrating the budget's broad popular appeal.

All of this agitation for and against the budget is having little
effect. Gallup reported yesterday that about 40 per cent of Americans
support the budget, about a quarter oppose it, and about a third have
no opinion, which is essentially unchanged from a month ago.

Most Popular Submissions

The White House asked the public to submit questions and vote on the
ones they would most like to see answered. These are the most popular
questions in some of the categories.

Education

The Founding Fathers believed that there is no difference
between a free society and an educated society. Our educational
system, however, is woefully inadequate. How do you plan to restore
education as a right and core cultural value in America?

Home Ownership

What benefits from the stimulus plan are there for
those of us who are paying our mortgages, but living paycheque to paycheque?

Health-Care Reform

Why can we not have a universal health-care system
like many European countries, where people are treated based on needs
rather than financial resources?

Veterans

The unemployment rate for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans is
higher than the national rate. Our veterans are a national treasure.
How can you, the VA and I ensure our veterans are successfully
transitioning into civilian life?

Auto Industry

What steps are being taken to ensure that the auto
industry uses the bailout money responsibly so that we don't end up in
this same situation in a few years?

Financial Stability

Would you support the bill currently going through
the California legislature to legalize and tax marijuana, boosting the
economy and reducing drug-cartel-related violence?

Jobs

What are your plans for the failing war on drugs that's sucking
money from taxpayers and putting non-violent people in prison longer
than the violent criminals?

Budget

With more than 1 out of 30 Americans controlled by the penal
system, why not legalize, control, and tax marijuana to change the
failed war on drugs into a money-making, money-saving boost to the
economy? Do we really need that many victimless criminals?