And 100000000 times more tolerable <| sep |> Yeah , it ' s an opinion . That ' s what most of what ' s on here . Even facts are subject to perception . To some extent they ' re subject to our perception , but to another extent they ' re not . If you ' re just going to make up your own definitions for words and terms , then you nullify any significance in what you ' re saying because there ' s no objective standard to compare it to . So not serving at all , now or then , while not pressing for enough reform to prevent others from serving is exactly what the moral conundrum I ' m referring to , call it what you like . Use a different a word , it ' s not hypocrisy . Furthermore , you ' re projecting your moral conundrum onto others . Many people break laws everyday because they feel they are insignificant or just disagree with them . Not to mention you also just presented a hypothetical with if enforcement was absolute which it isn ' t . So this lessens any case of criticism even further . And it ' s totally a thing for politicians to pass weak reform to they say they did something . Obviously opinions on what ' s strong enough will vary . But as it stands , Obama didn ' t go to jailwon ' t go to jail , but also didn ' t pass reform that prevents cocaine possession from being an incarcerable offence , therefore he ' s not living up to the standard he is complicit in . You ' re mixing present and pass tense again . You say he ' s not living up to the standard , though he is living up to that standard because he doesn ' t do those drugs anymore . At least , there is no evidence he ' s still doing those drugs . From another angle , maybe he thinks that cocaine is an incarcerate offense IF you ' re not careful enough to keep from being caught within the statute of limitations . There is nothing inherently hypocritical about any of these generalized beliefs and positions that you ' re referencing . The defense for Obama is that perhaps pushing too hard like saying the govt lies and kills to maintain systems of institutional racism could backfire , however I clearly my opinion don ' t agree . There are many defenses , but that ' s fine . Just don ' t think your opinions are facts and don ' t claim something is hypocritical when it ' s not . Words have meaning to the objective and rational world and unless you ' re appealing to Trump supporters , then you should be able to substantiate the claim .