The Fayetteville Outrage

Thirty cars outside an Obama rally in North Carolina had their tires slashed.
The Obama campaign ought to pick up the tab.

Thirty cars had their tires slashed outside an Obama rally in Fayetteville, NC.

The Obama campaign &#8212 or, better yet, Obama personally &#8212 ought to pick up the tab (a total of a few thousand bucks), out of loyalty to the victims and as a means of publicizing the outrage.

Of course, if John McCain had any class, he’d write the check himself. (It would even be a clever campaign tactic, so he’d also do it if he merely had brains and imagination.) But if my grandma had wheels, she’d be a trolley-car. So Obama has to do it, or leave the innocent victims stuck.

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com