Can someone tell me why Obama didn't do this 10 years ago? Or even 6.
Another would be that he actually laid the groundwork for this kind of action. Obama made pursuing marijuana convictions the lowest possible priority for federal prosecutors and law enforcement officials [0], effectively saying "if states want to make weed legal, the federal government isn't going to do anything about it." After that, a number of states held referenda on legalizing weed, and most passed with broad support. This is the next logical step at the federal level - pardoning anyone who was convicted during that period and taking steps towards changing marijuana from a schedule 1 drug (where it has never belonged) to something more reasonable. [1] No president can fully legalize weed at the federal level, but they can reschedule it based on the actual cost/benefits to individuals and society.
Another more cynical answer is that Obama is black, and didn't want the legacy of the first black president to also be "the one who pardoned all the drug offenders"
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_policy_of_the_Barack_...
You need political capital if you make that decision and don't want to be eviscerated in the next election.
https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/federal-prisoner-st...
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/amandachicagolewis/amer...
I think Oregon either has made changes to address this or is close to doing so. This helps at the federal level.
Us pop: 331,893,745
% Pop w/Felony: 8%
Felony pop: 26,551,499
Pardon pop: 6,500
% Felony Pardoned: 0.02%
Given a conviction growth rate of about 5% over 30 years ending with 62,755, there would be a federal felony population of 936,422. That is barely 1M much less 20M. Something is off about the numbers.
0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony_disenfranchisement_in_t...
Obama's tenure as President was marked by a distinct attempt to meet the GOP as peers. It seems as though he was, mostly, a pretty strong believer (philosophically) in co-governance by all representatives of the people of the US in the federal government. "Reach across the aisle" was a frequently-used phrase at that time. And if he unilaterally pardoned people legally convicted of marijuana offenses without Congress first changing the law, what kind of message would that send about the nature of executive power in the United States of America?
His political peers responded by refusing to consider a Supreme Court nomination; supporting and nominating Donald Trump, whom voters then elected; and seating three Supreme Court justices, who then overturned precedent that had protected the reproductive rights of a generation and a half of Americans. Their party platform in 2020 was "That the Republican Party has and will continue to enthusiastically support the President’s America-first agenda" with no other changes from the 2016 platform. No mention of policy; no mention of Congress.
The modern Democratic party is under no illusions that reaching across the aisle will benefit them and is now in the tit-for-tat phase of the two-party prisoner's dilemma. If this move wins Biden's party votes going into the midterms, then forget Congress. If Congress wants a say in how the country is governed, they can get their act together and do the few structural changes that would un-deadlock the Senate and allow laws to be passed.
I don't know if this is a strategy that would have worked during Obama's administration. I don't think Obama's strategies work in this era, though.
So he always bent over for the Republicans, often sabotaging things like Obamacare by pre-negotiating with his own administration to remove things he thought the Republicans would dislike.
Of course, the Republicans didn't care what he did. They were going to oppose everything they could get away with opposing. (Their voters did still expect some governance in those days, instead of the full-time vengeance mode they now expect.)
Contrast with Joe Biden, who is an old white guy with working class roots and half a century in politics with a solid, non-threatening track record. There’s almost nothing he could do which will get that many people to be like “I thought I knew him but not this”.
Have they? Most on the left said and would still say Obama was a relatively standard Democrat and not particularly progressive, especially compared to someone like Bernie Sanders.
In many ways Biden is more progressive than Obama.
As is society as a whole.
Biden is doing the smallest tangible thing, which is great, but hardly earth shattering.
Losing Democrats was the concern, not Republicans; they were already lost. There are plenty of “tough on crime” Dems out there for Obama to navigate.
For the same reasons, Michelle Obama had to be careful with hairstyles and how she spoke, lest she be perceived as an “angry Black lady”.
Michelle Obama was treated horribly. Trump's First Lady was a Russian prostitute who literally hated Christmas, and she was given the benefit of the doubt until the very last moment.
Trump actually stood in front of a bunch of businessmen and told them to their face if they moved their manufacturing out of the US he'd slap them with tariffs.