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by andrew_ 1351 days ago
Tweets do not official policy make. If you need examples, you need but examine his tweets all through 2019 and 2020 - they're loaded with promises and plans. This is certainly not exclusive to POTUS.

Show me a policy document along with a bill from that office and I'll consider it more than an election year symbolic gesture.
4 comments
petesergeant 1350 days ago
This feels like a too mean-spirited take. According to this[0] he may not need a bill, and in fact may have taken the first step

0: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2015/02/13/how-to-resc...

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danso 1350 days ago
His tweets 2019 and 2020 are indeed "loaded with promises and plans", but that's because he was literally not president at that time. Now that he is president, tweets from @POTUS are intended and expected official statements. Sure he could be completely bullshitting with his tweets, but he could do the same with a "policy document"

(White House and executive offices don't produce "bills", other than signing the ones proposed and passed through Congress)

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haswell 1350 days ago
Policy or not, intent was clearly declared. Not vague statements, but specific actions including a direct callout to the secretary of HHS to initiate the rescheduling review.

Obviously we can only wait to see what comes next, but I'm not sure what more you'd want? The review process has to occur, so there's no additional "policy" to be had at the moment. Obviously there's a possibility that rescheduling doesn't happen as a result of that review, but that hardly seems likely given the current political and social climate around marijuana.

Seemed like a pretty straight-forward way to communicate "and this is step 2, which is a work in progress".

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danaris 1350 days ago
I think there's a huge difference between tweets with "promises and plans" (especially from before he was actually elected), and tweets saying "I have done this thing. I am doing this other thing."

It's reasonable to be cautious about a politician making a promise in anything but the most legally-binding possible way. It's not reasonable to straight-out call that politician a bald-faced liar if he hasn't demonstrated a propensity for such lies (unlike some I could easily name).

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