THE EARMARK

In 1999, then-Congressman Bob Barr (R L-GA) shepherded a bill through Congress that blocked the legalization of medical marijuana in the District of Columbia.  How ironic, then, that ten years later, that very same law crumbled at the hands of the Obama Justice Department, the House of Representatives, and… you guessed it…

Lil’ Wayne.

Oh yeah, and also Bob Barr.

Last week, the House of Representatives repealed a 10 year old provision of the D.C. appropriations bill that blocked implementation of a voter approved medical marijuana law for the District: joining the lobbying effort to repeal this amendment was its author, former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr.  Like Arianna Huffington, Barr once palled around with Newt Gingrich; but after losing his seat in 2002, he became a friend of the ACLU and the Marijuana Policy Project.

Although Barr was a real blowhard back in his congressional days, we applaud his ability to evolve on no-brainer issues like this one, as well as repealing the Defense of Marriage Act, which he also authored and now opposes.

But why stop with marriage and pot?  There are still a lot of relics from Barr’s past that he could try to undo.  For example, he could lobby to:

- Un-impeach Bill Clinton.

- Put witches back into the military.

- Remove “the King of Vegas” from his 2008 campaign ticket.

- Re-apply the whipped cream he licked off those models’ breasts at a leukemia fundraiser.

Any one of those would be a much stronger signature issue for the former Georgia congressman than wacky tobacky.  Because let’s face it: If Barr stakes his name on legalizing pot, he’s going to spend the rest of his days fighting for headlines with the rest of the stoner crowd — from William F. Buckley to Pat Buchanan.

Tags: Bob Barr, marijuana