As I pointed out last week, the threat of federal interference if Prop 19 passes has been overblown considerably by opponents of marijuana legalization. Justin Elliot at Salon has more.

When Salon contacted the White House, a spokesman repeatedly declined to criticize the initiative, instead referring all inquiries to the Justice Department. A DOJ spokeswoman referred us to Holder's letter on the issue. And when we called the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (led by the drug czar, Kerlikowske), a spokesman was careful to point out that Kerlikowske went to California last week only after he was invited there by a local group. That's a distinction without a difference, but it's another sign that the administration is not eager to broadcast its opposition to the measure.

Of course, when forced to comment on marijuana policy, this administration still insists on taking the wrong position, and that's enough to warrant continued criticism from those of us working to end marijuana prohibition. So long as Obama offers us nothing but evasive and condescending soundbites, he should be treated just like every other drug warrior that's stood in our way.



Still, it would be foolish to ignore the implicit political message conveyed by this administration's obvious reluctance to aggressively defend marijuana laws. They are intimidated enough by our political momentum to avoid the sort of reckless anti-pot posturing of their predecessors, and that observation could prove strategically valuable to us in any number of ways. It's a subtle difference and anyone who hasn't closely followed drug war politics over a period of years can be forgiven for missing it, but the fact is that we're dealing with an administration whose commitment to the war on marijuana falls somewhat short of steadfast.



All of this is going to matter quite a bit if Prop 19 passes and Obama is forced to reconcile Holder's promise of "vigorous enforcement" with the political reality that the young voters democrats depend on want nothing of the sort.