Reactions to Obama's Telecom Immunity Vote

July 9, 2008, 3:50 p.m.

Here's a sampling of excerpts from comments posted in the Obama Web site blog, "Senator Obama - Please Vote NO on Telecom Immunity - Get FISA Right," during one hour this afternoon

This was an hour (2:46-3:33 p.m. CT) following Senator Obama's failure to vote against cloture (which he would have had to do to permit the filibuster he promised) followed by his vote FOR the FISA bill and telecom immunity (which he had formerly opposed). And, oh yes, Senator Clinton voted against cloture (i.e., for a filibuster) and against the bill. Here's the official roll call record of the Senate's votes, if you're curious.

This morning I blogged, "Obama Doesn't Get It." That was before his vote. The reactions reproduced below -- all those of others, not me -- is just more evidence in support of this morning's thesis. I predicted two weeks ago something like this backlash was going to result for his campaign. Now it has.

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Senator Obama - Please Vote NO on Telecom Immunity - Get FISA Right
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!

I agree - there are many other issues

By Arun from Englishtown, NJ - Jul 9th, 2008 at 4:33 pm EDT
Also listed in: Senator Obama - Please Vote NO on Telecom Immunity - Get FISA Right

. . . But whatever those are - starting from being a better informed citizen (by the media companies), voting (on machines made by corporations), health care (provided by corporations), having no digital divide (telcos), disaster insurance for future Katrinas and mid-West floods (insurance cos), having my savings, investment, pension safe(banks and financial companines) - all these issues involve large and powerful corporations

Which just demonstrated that they can buy immunity from the law by purchasing Republican and Democratic members of Congress.

Senator Obama went tamely along.

Where is our protection when corporate interests are opposed to those of us people? We've just seen that Senator Obama and his movement cannot provide it. . . .



Sad day to be an Obama Supporter

By John H - Jul 9th, 2008 at 4:23 pm EDT

This FISA bill just stinks from head to toe. Where was the fillabuster? Where is the man who ran on this issue and now flipping so easy to those that broke the law. You have my vote Senator Obama but no longer my work on the phone banks and my dollars from my other bank.



Lesser of 2 Evils Again

By Kathy - Jul 9th, 2008 at 4:23 pm EDT

Congratulations, Senator Obama, on becoming the "lesser of 2 evils candidate" for millions of your supporters.

We worked for you and supported you before today because we believed what you said. I don't anymore. . . .

As it is, no more donations from me. No more going out of my way.

Because when I thought you were more than just another politician I became more than just another voter. Well you dropped your ball so I see no reason to disrupt my life on your account. You can obviously win without my contributions and work since the telecom companies will more than make up for what you lose from me.

[Y]our campaign just went corporate. Good luck serving them!


Obama FISA Flip-flop a Betrayal of Principles and the People

By Bryan K. Long - Jul 9th, 2008 at 4:20 pm EDT

. . . Few Democrats held to principle and voted against this bad bill today. Hillary Clinton was one of them. Obama was not. Perhaps I made a mistake supporting Obama. If he betrays us on this, how can I trust him on promises about energy and the environment, or health care? Obviously, he and the Democratic congressional leadership are listening to "higher voices", and our government is in the control of powers larger than "we the people". . . .

Certainly I will not be renewing my financial support for Obama for the general election. I'm not sure I can even vote for him.

Shame on you, Sen. Obama.



Good By Barack

By Daniel from New Castle, PA - Jul 9th, 2008 at 4:08 pm EDT

I have been watching C-Span 2 for two days to listen to the debates and vote on the FISA BILL. After the vote I removed your sign from the front window, and your bumper sticker from my car. Hillary voted against this bill. Lets draft her at the convention.



Obama votes for bush's American fascism!

By Robert - Jul 9th, 2008 at 4:05 pm EDT

In 1933, in response to a "terrorist attack", Hitler, through his politics of fear and his cry for "national security", got his "Enabling Act" passed. . . .

It's amazing how similar the Patriot Act and the FISA Amendments Act resemble many parts of hitler's Enabling Act. . . .

My money will go to Feingold, and my vote, i will have to reconsider.



What's done is done. Now what?

By John from Springfield, MO - Jul 9th, 2008 at 4:03 pm EDT

So, Senator Obama has voted in favor of immunizing telecoms at the expense of us all; even though he said during the primary campaign that he would not. He has voted for what was clearly a capitulation and not a compromise. . . .

This is a sad day indeed. So long fourth amendment. It's been nice knowing you.

Cheers,

-John



Telecoms are king, gee thanks, Congress! Huge disappointment Senator Obama!

By Kate S - Jul 9th, 2008 at 4:02 pm EDT

I feel betrayed... and lied to, yet again. Did we not just experience a most horrendous 8 years with a president who lied to us over and over, ultimately doing what was best for him and his cronies and not what is best for the people of this country? I do not want that again, I will not be taken in again by pretty words and lies. . . .

I did not expect this from Obama. Obama voted yes for FISA today. Unbelievable. I was unaware the Congress could rewrite amendments to the US Constitution at will. . . . My disappointment in Obama and Congress is enormous. But I have learned to accept little from politicians. I have been behind Obama for quite a long time, but this as a slap in the face, given his previous positions and statements. . . I am also not ready for another president who talks out two sides of his mouth... and Obama most assuredly did this on FISA. It IS capitulation and nothing less. . . . I expected something better - different - from Obama, but we were sold out to big business again. . . . Big money is king, even to this campaign... the people do not matter. If you keep saying they do, then you need to show it. Sorry, I am not seeing it. I see capitalism strangling freedom and the Constitution. What a sad pathetic day for America. . . .


Lost my Vote today over FISA

By CJ from Moreno Valley, CA - Jul 9th, 2008 at 3:59 pm EDT

How disappointing that our man of change represents more of the same. I can't in good conscious vote for him now and am despondent of the future of this country I loved so much. So sad. I will start shopping jobs elsewhere, let the brain-drain begin as is usually the case when governments become fascists.



No Money, No Vote for the Latest Gutless Wonder - Barakh Obama

By David C. - Jul 9th, 2008 at 3:54 pm EDT

The 4th Amendment is apparently irrelevent to our legal genius.

The same complete disrespect for the Constitution and the LAW as Mr. Bush.

How completely shameful and disappointing.

The Federal Government is predatory, corrupt, and venal, and Obama has revealed today that he is part of the problem.



Obama lost my vote today

By Keith from Knoxville, TN - Jul 9th, 2008 at 3:50 pm EDT

Voting for the FISA bill was inexcusable. Obama was the only hope we had to turn this country around, but unfortunately, he has shown himself to be a traitor.



Hillary voted no on FISA amendments

By Steve from Austin - Jul 9th, 2008 at 3:49 pm EDT

I've been semi-comforting myself by saying that it doesn't matter whether Obama or Clinton is the nominee because they will both vote for FISA, but Obama voted yes and Cinton voted NO. I can no longer feel sure we have selected the right nominee. Very sad day. Integrity has suffered a major blow.


i don't believe in fairy tales

By joy - Jul 9th, 2008 at 3:46 pm EDT

Your asking me to believe? letting me think for a moment that my voice, the peoples voice, actually meant something to you?. Well we all begged, pleaded and asked you to stand strong with us against the fisa bill and you could have cared less. Change to believe in, or believe that you will change for political points. . . . [I've] lost that hope you lied about.



FISA is the deal breaker Senator Obama

By Paul from Salinas, CA - Jul 9th, 2008 at 3:46 pm EDT

Wwll, it is official, Senator Obama can no longer expect my support either monetarily or otherwise. The idea that upholding the rule of law was even debated in Congress is enough to make me sick. The real question now is since history will judge Bush to be the WORST president ever, how will the Representatives and Senators that supported this disgusting bill be remembered . . . [T]he idea that EVERY individual is equal under the law, including the president and corporations is apparently just a advertising slogan. Seems that our country is already lost....all we can do now is slowly watch all of our remainging freedoms . . . dissappear.

Here are some more, but . . .
rather than edit the comments with authors' names, etc., these are just some of the headlines they put on their comments [posted from 4:21 until 4:51 p.m. CT]

Change My Ass

what a pi$$er!

On the wrong side of FISA

Well, thanks for selling out our constitutional rights.

ACLU and EFF Pledge to fight New FISA in court

Barack Obama has disappointed me

FISA consequences: There Will Be Blood

Withdrawing My Support Due to FISA Capitulation

Faith based FISA

Disgusted with Obama

Obama’s ‘Sister Souljah Moment’ on the Surveillance Bill

Obama Caves In

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Obama's Telephone Switch

July 3, 2008, 4:30 p.m.

Obama's Turn

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose, under heaven

A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn

-- Pete Seeger, "Turn, Turn, Turn"
The primary was the "time to build up," "a time to dance." Now, it appears, the general election campaign is the "time to break down" and our "time to mourn."

What a shame.

I began predicting on June 22 (see the entries linked below) that Senator Obama's moves to the right risked the decimation of his "brand" ("change," "turn the page," "hope," a "new politics") and along with it the loss of his greatest asset: the enthusiastic support of those of all ages who accepted that his were promises we really could "believe in" -- but especially the young, first-time voters.

His sharp flips to the right now include everything from the trivial sporting of a flag lapel pin, to the more serious issues of NAFTA, public financing of campaigns (and bundling), government funding of faith-based programs, the death penalty, Israel, tax cuts for corporations, regulation of guns, FISA and immunity for telephone companies caught illegally spying on Americans. And we've scarcely concluded the first month following the primary.

. . . To which we now -- I've discovered since writing this -- must add Iraq as well:

Sen. Barack Obama left open the possibility of slowing his promised, 16-month withdrawal of combat forces from Iraq, saying he would consult with military commanders on an upcoming trip to the region to ensure a withdrawal would keep troops safe and Iraq stable.

Jonathan Weisman, "Obama Softens on Iraq Withdrawal Timeline," Washington Post/The Trail, July 3, 2008.

What a loss. What an incredibly high price to pay for abandonment of principle -- especially, ironically, in light of the pragmatic data that the odds were he would have received more general election votes from where he was standing than from the pit into which he has now fallen.

Today's further confirmation of my concerns is reflected in the excerpts below from James Risen's story in yesterday's New York Times:

[Related:

Nicholas Johnson, "Change We Can No Longer Believe In," June 22, 2008

Nicholas Johnson, "Holding Obama's Feet to the Fireside Chat," June 24, 2008.

Nicholas Johnson, "The Bundling Business," June 26, 2008.

Nicholas Johnson, "Will the Real Obama Stand Up -- For Us?" June 27, 2008.

Nicholas Johnson, "Pragmatic Idealism," June 28, 2008.

Nicholas Johnson, "Obama's Geometry: Triangulation," June 30, 2008.

Nicholas Johnson, "Obama's Move to Right Shows Self-Defeating Weakness," July 1, 2008.

Nicholas Johnson, "Obama's Telephone Switch," July 3, 2008.]

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Senator Barack Obama’s decision to support legislation granting legal immunity to telecommunications companies that cooperated with the Bush administration’s program of wiretapping without warrants has led to an intense backlash among some of his most ardent supporters.

Thousands of them are now using the same grass-roots organizing tools previously mastered by the Obama campaign to organize a protest against his decision.

In recent days, more than 7,000 Obama supporters have organized on a social networking site on Mr. Obama’s own campaign Web site. They are calling on Mr. Obama to reverse his decision to endorse legislation supported by President Bush to expand the government’s domestic spying powers while also providing legal protection to the telecommunication companies that worked with the National Security Agency’s domestic wiretapping program after the Sept. 11 attacks.

During the Democratic primary campaign, Mr. Obama vowed to fight such legislation to update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. But he has switched positions, and now supports a compromise hammered out between the White House and the Democratic Congressional leadership. The bill is expected to come to a vote on the Senate floor next Tuesday. That decision, one of a number made by Mr. Obama in recent weeks intended to position him toward the political center as the general election campaign heats up, has brought him into serious conflict for the first time with liberal bloggers and commentators and his young supporters.

Many of them have seen the issue of granting immunity to the telecommunications companies as a test of principle in their opposition to Mr. Bush’s surveillance program.

“I don’t think there has been another instance where, in meaningful numbers, his supporters have opposed him like this,” said Glenn Greenwald, a Salon.com writer who opposes Mr. Obama’s new position. “For him to suddenly turn around and endorse this proposal is really a betrayal of what so many of his supporters believed he believed in.” . . .

“The opposition to Obama’s position among his supporters is very widespread,” said Ms. Hamsher, founder of the Web site firedoglake.com. “His promise to filibuster earlier in the year, and the decision to switch on that is seen as a real character problem. I know people who are really very big Obama supporters are very disillusioned.”

One supporter, Robert Arellano, expressed his anger on the Obama site.

“I have watched your campaign with genuine enthusiasm,” Mr. Arellano wrote, “and I have given you money. For the first time in my life, I have sensed the presence of a presidential candidate who might actually bring some meaningful change to the corrupt cesspool of national politics. But your about-face on the FISA bill genuinely angers and alarms me.” . . .

Several activists and bloggers predicted that Mr. Obama’s move toward the center on some issues could sharply reduce the intensity of support he has enjoyed from liberal activists. Such enthusiasm helped power his effort to secure the Democratic nomination, and it has been one of his campaign’s most important tools for fund-raising and organizing around the country.

Markos Moulitsas, a liberal blogger and founder of the Daily Kos Web site, said he had decided to cut back on the amount of money he would contribute to the Obama campaign because of the FISA reversal.

“I will continue to support him,” Mr. Moulitsas said in an interview. “But I was going to write him a check, and I decided I would rather put that money with Democrats who will uphold the Constitution.” . . .

(I have a friend who told me almost exactly the same thing as Moulitsas. And I was told of an Obama staffer who conceded to a volunteer that she was hearing the same thing from her own grandparents.) James Risen, "Obama Voters Protest His Switch on Telecomm Immunity," New York Times, July 2, 2008.

It's really sad, is what it is.

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