OBAMA and FISA..
The Wiretapping debacle is something that could prove VERY detrimental to the OBAMA campaign especially when it comes to compromising on the issue of Civil Liberties and wiretaps that were ILLEGAL to begin with.. We shall see how this plays out in coming weeks.. The FISA Vote is scheduled after the 4th of July holiday.. -- TD
**KEITH OLBERMANN piece on OBAMA and FISA..
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/07/wag_the_blog_fisa_problems_for.html?hpid=topnews
Wag the Blog: FISA Problems for Obama?
As we have written before, Keith Olbermann and his show "Countdown" (on which The Fix occasionally is a guest) has become a major voice on the ideological left -- where many view him with something close to reverence.
So, last night, when Olbermann devoted more than 11 minutes to a meditation on the political dangers posed to Barack Obama by the upcoming (post-July Fourth recess) vote on a rewrite of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), we took notice.
FISA has long been a touchstone for liberal activists who see it as a vehicle for a power grab by the Bush Administration and a violation of privacy rights of average citizens.
At the heart of the current debate is whether or not telecommunications companies who participated in the warrantless wiretapping program authorized by the Bush Administration in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks should be granted de facto immunity from the dozens of pending lawsuits alleging invasion of privacy. (Olbermann, as only he can, described the actions of the telecommunications companies as "definitional fascism.")
After initially opposing that sort of immunity, Obama announced last week that he would vote for the compromise bill which includes that very provision. In announcing his support for the bill, Obama said the legislation is "not all that I would want" but added that "given the legitimate threats we face, providing effective intelligence collection tools with appropriate safeguards is too important to delay."
That decision by Obama, which was widely seen by political strategists as an attempt to move to the ideological center, represented his first major break with the liberal left, a group that sustained him financially and organizationally throughout the primary season.
For Olbermann, as well as many on the liberal end of the political spectrum, Obama has backed himself into a corner. Regardless of how the FISA vote shakes out next week, they argue, Republicans will continue to paint Obama as soft on terrorism and not sufficiently prepared to safeguard the country.
Or, in Olbermann's words: "The Republicans can scare some of the people all of the time and they can scare all of the people some of the time."
For today's Wag the Blog, we want to hear from the Fix community on this issue. Does Obama's decision to support the FISA compromise help him moderate his image for the general election and keep a major GOP arrow in the quiver? Or does it simply alienate him for the very people he depended on to win the nomination while doing little to keep Republicans at bay on terror and national security?
As always the most thoughtful/insightful comments will be excerpted in a post of their own later this week. Go to it!
**KEITH OLBERMANN piece on OBAMA and FISA..
Click to viewhttp://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/07/wag_the_blog_fisa_problems_for.html?hpid=topnews
Wag the Blog: FISA Problems for Obama?
As we have written before, Keith Olbermann and his show "Countdown" (on which The Fix occasionally is a guest) has become a major voice on the ideological left -- where many view him with something close to reverence.
So, last night, when Olbermann devoted more than 11 minutes to a meditation on the political dangers posed to Barack Obama by the upcoming (post-July Fourth recess) vote on a rewrite of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), we took notice.
FISA has long been a touchstone for liberal activists who see it as a vehicle for a power grab by the Bush Administration and a violation of privacy rights of average citizens.
At the heart of the current debate is whether or not telecommunications companies who participated in the warrantless wiretapping program authorized by the Bush Administration in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks should be granted de facto immunity from the dozens of pending lawsuits alleging invasion of privacy. (Olbermann, as only he can, described the actions of the telecommunications companies as "definitional fascism.")
After initially opposing that sort of immunity, Obama announced last week that he would vote for the compromise bill which includes that very provision. In announcing his support for the bill, Obama said the legislation is "not all that I would want" but added that "given the legitimate threats we face, providing effective intelligence collection tools with appropriate safeguards is too important to delay."
That decision by Obama, which was widely seen by political strategists as an attempt to move to the ideological center, represented his first major break with the liberal left, a group that sustained him financially and organizationally throughout the primary season.
For Olbermann, as well as many on the liberal end of the political spectrum, Obama has backed himself into a corner. Regardless of how the FISA vote shakes out next week, they argue, Republicans will continue to paint Obama as soft on terrorism and not sufficiently prepared to safeguard the country.
Or, in Olbermann's words: "The Republicans can scare some of the people all of the time and they can scare all of the people some of the time."
For today's Wag the Blog, we want to hear from the Fix community on this issue. Does Obama's decision to support the FISA compromise help him moderate his image for the general election and keep a major GOP arrow in the quiver? Or does it simply alienate him for the very people he depended on to win the nomination while doing little to keep Republicans at bay on terror and national security?
As always the most thoughtful/insightful comments will be excerpted in a post of their own later this week. Go to it!