Obama is a counter-puncher.
Apparently when a YKos attendee asked Barack Obama whether he was tough enough to be President, Obama replied, “Welcome to Chicago,” which is as polite a way of making the point as I can think of.
Looks as if he’s a pretty good counterpuncher,too. At the AFL-CIO forum — not his natural center of strength — Obama defended himself on foreign policy and drew loud cheers as HRC, attacking him, drew boos.
Footnote Speaking of “irresponsibility,” I wonder of Obama’s critics, both Red and Blue, would think for a moment about the real-world consequences of mischaraterizing his pledge to strike at al-Qaeda as a plan to “invade Pakistan.” As Chris Dodd said, words have consequences.
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
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