All is Not Well in the Kingdom of Obama [UPDATED]
By PaganPower on July 4, 2008 at 10:10 AM in Barack Obama, DNC, Daily Kos, Democratic Nomination, FISA, Hillary Clinton, National Security
Editorial Note: Barack Obama (his very self) responds to the angst of his followers at the end of this post. Somehow I don’t think they will like it.
Not everyone is happy with Senator Barack Obama. Many of his once loyal followers have woken up from the trance they were in and have started exhibiting the first symptoms of normality. They are beginning to use rational thought and are actually questioning their Messiah. The wheels are starting to come off from the Hopey Changey wagon. And it couldn’t be a prettier sight.
Just look at what his loyal followers on Firedoglake have to say.
Turning Obama Into A Punchline: How Democrats Can Lose
SkinnyMinnie July 2nd, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Obama wasn’t my first choice, but as the primary campaign progressed, he grew on me (mostly by treating the electorate as grown-ups instead of fearful children).
Now, I want a do-over. The FISA capitulation was bad enough, but now he’s walking back his commitment to get out of Iraq? What is wrong with him? Did someone kidnap David Plouffe and replace him with Mark Penn?
barbara July 2nd, 2008 at 3:47 pm
“And as Obama decides to be all things to all people, and nothing to anyone…”
And thereby hangs the tale. Because I expected integrity from Barack Obama. I expected at the very least that he would be a fierce defender of the Constitution. Remember the “taught constitutional law” meme? He had my loyalty (okay, trickle down loyalty from Gore and then Edwards) and he has some of my money. There will be no more money (he doesn’t need it — he can afford to cover Hillary’s losses) and the loyalty thing is in limbo. And I’m a staunch Dem.
This is not looking good.
I just love it. Those 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling appear to be spreading to the Obama camp. Maybe PUMAs have gone viral and we are contagious. Wouldn’t that be sweet?
Here is my personal favorite:
Jo Fish July 2nd, 2008 at 3:54 pm
In response to selise @ 10Selise, his (fucking stupid election-losing) consultants have no doubt told him he can’t win if he runs as a classic liberal, progressive, Democrat. He has to go for the “mommy vote” or the “NASCAR vote” or whatever group of swing voters that they have decided is most critical.
I am starting to wonder whether or not it might not be smarter at the Convention to flush an Obama candidacy down the shitter and pick HRC or John Edwards via some old-timey backroom dealing. It might not be easy, but it might keep us from letting Obama’s consultants put McCain into the White House.
What part of separation of Church and State does Professor Con Law not get? The Fourth Amendment?
Hey Jo Fish. You sound an awful lot like a PUMA to me. Because that is exactly our stance. If the frickin DNC can have illegal backroom deals to appoint Obama the nominee we sure as hell can insist that they have an upfront legal meeting to throw this say anything to get elected bum out on his petard. Then we can elect Hillary.
But if you thought a few comments on one pro-Obama blog represented the amount of discontent out there you would be sadly mistaken. Or is that jumping with joy?!?
A group of bloggers that typically hang out at the Orange Satan place decided to start up their own personal site at Obama’s official website. In a few days they have grown to be the largest group there.
These are folks that have gone beyond just complaining on the blogs. These folks are making a statement. And they are doing it in Barack Obama’s backyard.
I realize the writing below is a little difficult to read so here is the purpose of the group.
Senator Obama – Please Vote Against FISA
Senator Obama – we are a proud group of your supporters who believe in your call for hope and a new kind of politics. Please reject the politics of fear on national security, vote against this bill and lead other Democrats to do the same!
Isn’t that just the sweetest thing you’ve seen recently? Well, except for that picture you can’t get out of your head of Hillary kicking Obama between the legs.
But even this isn’t the worst of it. The Obama campaign is flat out lying about why His Majesty has decided to support FISA. Why doesn’t that me?
Obama advisor Greg Craig: Adding insult to injury
Greg Craig, a Washington lawyer who advises the Obama campaign, said Tuesday in an interview that Mr. Obama had decided to support the compromise FISA legislation only after concluding it was the best deal possible.
“This was a deliberative process, and not something that was shooting from the hip,” Mr. Craig said. “Obviously, there was an element of what’s possible here. But he concluded that with FISA expiring, that it was better to get a compromise than letting the law expire.”
It sounds reasonable. But apparently Obama has been giving bamboozling lessons to his advisors. Cause it’s a big load of donkey poop. And Glenn Greenwald proves it.
Craig’s statement is flat-out false. FISA — enacted in 1978 and amended many times to accommodate modern communications technology — has no expiration date. The Protect America Act, which Congress enacted last August to legalize warrantless eavesdropping on Americans, had a 6-month sunset provision and thus already expired back in February, restoring FISA as the governing law. Thus, if Congress does nothing now, FISA will continue indefinitely to govern the Government’s power to spy on the communications of Americans. It doesn’t expire. What Craig said in defense of Obama is just wrong.
The ever persistent Greenwald took this a few steps further. He e-mailed Craig and received no response. So he called and left a message. Craig finally returned the call and did what Obama surrogates do all the time. They claim to speak for what Obama really meant. But what else do we expect from a WORM?
After I read him his quote, explained that FISA won’t expire, and pointed out that his comment in the NYT therefore made no sense, Craig paused for awhile and then said that he meant that the “warrants under FISA would expire in August,” and Obama supported the FISA “compromise” to prevent that from happening. When I asked Craig if he was referring to the surveillance orders authorized by the Protect America Act that allow the Government to spy with no individual warrants (which have a one-year duration and do expire in August), Craig said that this is what he meant, and that Obama wanted to avoid having those surveillance orders expire.
As Greenwald acknowledges, this does not explain Obama’s sudden reversal on FISA. The facts tell another story entirely. So he keeps at Craig.
How can he be eager to avoid the expiration of surveillance orders which he opposed authorizing in the first place?
Craig, apparently doing his very best stammering Obama impersonation does not impress Greenwald. So he does the smart thing when faced with someone determined to offer only Cult-speak loop, he walks away. But not without laying the whole thing out there for us to understand in very easy to understand terms.
In the past, Obama has opposed the type of warrantless eavesdropping which those PAA orders authorize. He’s repeatedly said that the FISA court works and there’s no need to authorize eavesdropping without individual warrants. None of that can be reconciled with his current claim that he supports this FISA “compromise” because National Security requires that those PAA orders not expire and that there be massive changes to FISA. It’s just as simple as that.
So you see, it’s very easy to comprehend. Obama was against warrantless wiretaps before he was for them. And his reasoning is that our national security requires us to ignore the Constitution.
I “hope” he and his followers keep that in mind tomorrow when we celebrate the birth pangs of independence that led to our great nation. It should be educational for them. If not painful. As it should be.
Just Say No Deal!
[UPDATE] Below is Barky’s response to the furor created by his FISA decision. As you can see, Obama thinks that as long as he is allowed to spy on Americans the rest of us should give him a pass. Because according to him he is on our side. Except for the 1st, 2nd and 4th Amendments. If you don’t mind a little Iraq withdrawal bamboozling that is. And a dash or two of hoodwinking for good measure.
Democracy cannot exist without strong differences. And going forward, some of you may decide that my FISA position is a deal breaker. That’s ok. But I think it is worth pointing out that our agreement on the vast majority of issues that matter outweighs the differences we may have.
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