Kal Penn in the Obama Administration

Just the other day I found out that Kal Penn works for the Obama Administration and is the Associate Director of Intergovernmental Affairs for the White House. If you don't know who Kal Penn is, he played Kumar in the Harold & Kumar movies. Yeah, the guy who had sex with a giant bag of weed in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle now works in the Obama Administration. Even though I'm sure this actor is an intelligent guy (otherwise he wouldn't have gotten picked), I don't understand why they picked the one guy who is a stoner movie icon for the job. I just think it's an irrational political decision. It just makes the government look foolish. I mean Obama already has most of the stoners on his side, so how does this help him out? There had to have been more people that were just as, if not, more qualified for the position than this individual.