Legal Commentary

The Obama Administration's Complicity In Covering Up Illegal Surveillance

By Big Tent Democrat

Glenn Greenwald explains what candidate Obama promised:

When Obama sought to placate his angry supporters after he voted for the Bush/Cheney FISA-telecom immunity bill last June (after vowing the prior December to support a filibuster of any such legislation), this is what he said . . . :

[The FISA bill] also firmly re-establishes basic judicial oversight over all domestic surveillance in the future. It does, however, grant retroactive immunity, and I will work in the Senate to remove this provision so that we can seek full accountability for past offenses.

Glenn then explains what PRESIDENT Obama has done:

President Obama, however, has now become the prime impediment to precisely that accountability, repeatedly engaging in extraordinary legal maneuvers to ensure that "past offenses" -- both in the surveillance and torture/rendition realm -- remain secret and forever immunized from judicial review. Put another way, Obama has repeatedly done the exact opposite of what he vowed he would do: rather than "seek full accountability for past offenses," he has been working feverishly to block such accountability, by embracing the same radical Bush/Cheney views and rhetoric regarding presidential secrecy powers that caused so much controversy and anger for the last several years.

Now you can care about this or not, but you can not pretend to care about it and say nothing about what President Obama has done. Some folks need to declare themselves on this issue - either you care about this or you do not. But you can't pretend to care and then shut up about what President Obama is doing. Or at least, you should not.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on April 07, 2009 (boomark / email).