Considering how I’ve said a critical word or two about the president recently, and have been known to accuse him of pandering and reveling in the “messiah” role that his admirers embrace (and his campaign encouraged), I’m going to give him a bit of credit for not pandering today.

Tommy Christopher of Mediaite sets the stage:

The question of the day at President Obama’s Tampa, Florida, Town Hall meeting has got to be this stumper from aspiring poet Rashonda Williams, an energetic charmer who got the President’s attention by jumping up and down. She explained to the President that her brothers are “in and out of prison with the drugs,” and went on to say that her 27 year-old brother has accumulated 33 drug felonies. She wanted to know if the President had any ideas to break that cycle of recidivism. The President paused awhile before answering . . .
The President handled it with humor and compassion, pointing out that 33 is a lot of felonies, and talking about the need to fund the Second Chance Act. Still, the end result seems to be, “He’s screwed.”

He could have downplayed the difficulties, or he could have given her a BS answer. In the end, while discussing these various programs, he made pretty clear that there wasn’t any easy road for a man with 33 drug felonies.

Admit it, you were afraid he would say, “See one of my staffers here, and we’ll see if we can line him up a job at TSA.”