FISA, Obama, and his Supporters

July 9th, 2008 Posted in Politics

Update: See my FISA visual guide (flowcharts) and this followup on why there’s not more outrage about FISA

Greenwald on Obama supporters and FISA:

Ultimately, it’s the sheer glibness of the support for this corrupt and Bush-enabling bill among Obama and his supporters that is most striking. Revealingly, Lanny Davis — a pure symbol of everything that is rotted and broken in our political culture — wrote an Op-Ed yesterday lavishly praising Obama for his support of the FISA bill on the ground that it “provided the senator an important chance to demonstrate his ‘Sister Souljah moment.’” Beltway operatives like Davis can only understand the world through the prism of this finite set of clichés — Stand up the Left. Sister Souljah. Move to the Center. That’s the same oh-so-sophisticiated political analysis one finds everywhere to justify what Obama is doing.

More: Today’s cover-up of surveillance crimes and Barack Obama - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com

This is an accurate description of Lanny Davis (who was a staunch supporter of Hillary Clinton and spouted the same kind of nonsense in support of her). And while there is a fringe of Obama supporters who must see no wrong (as there is with any candidate), there clearly are many Obama supporters (and I am one of them) who oppose his stance on FISA.

But importantly:

Ultimately, what’s most amazing about all of that is that — as Senate Intelligence Committee member Russ Feingold pointed out yesterday — even the vast majority of the Congress, let alone Obama apologists, have no idea what these spying programs even entail or how they work. As someone who isn’t on the Intelligence Committee, does Obama even know?

Obama’s position on FISA is incredibly dissapointing — and worse, it’s not merely a matter of honest disagreement; it’s a matter either of not understanding the law or not want to discuss its substance. We have yet to see Obama or his staff really address the detailed objection of Greenwald and others. I’d like to see an read, substantive discussion between the Obama campaign and his supporters on this issue — but it has yet to happen, and I’m not sure how to make it happen.