I have been bothered by the claim of some on MyDD since Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination, that it is inappropriate to discuss anything negative about either the Democratic nomination process, or our Democratic nominee. Many members have proclaimed that he is now our nominee, and as a result, we must support him wholeheartedly, and refrain from any criticism, or we are not true Democrats.
Many of us know Glenn Greenwald as the author of the column, Unclaimed Territory, at Salon.com. Mr. Greenwald has consistently and strongly supported Barack Obama in his column. However, he is a former constitutional law and civil rights litigator, who is deeply involved in the warrantless wiretapping debate.
Well, today, Mr. Greenwald took Obama to task, warned against blindly supporting him, and asked all of us to take Obama to task, as well.
Thursday June 19, 2008 05:39 EDT
Obama, telecoms and the Beltway systemAs noted yesterday, Blue Dog Rep. John Barrow of Georgia has been one of the most enthusiastic enablers of the radical and lawless policies of the Bush administration. When running for re-election, he ran ads accusing his own party of wanting to "cut and run in Iraq," and was one of the 21 Blue Dogs to send a letter to Nancy Pelosi demanding that they be allowed to vote for the Rockefeller/Cheney Senate bill to give warrantless eavesdropping powers to the President and amnesty to lawbreaking telecoms.
As a result of all of that, Barrow faces a serious primary challenge in July from State Senator Regina Thomas....
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Thomas' positions on both foreign and domestic policy are firmly in line with Barack Obama's views and with the Democratic base in that district, while Barrow has continuously supported the most extremist Bush policies, as he himself proudly boasts....
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Despite all of this, The Atlanta Constitution-Journal reported yesterday that Barack Obama -- who has been claiming to be so emphatically opposed to warrantless eavesdropping and telecom amnesty, to say nothing of the Iraq War -- taped a radio endorsement this week for Rep. Barrow, with the specific intent to help him defeat Regina Thomas in the Democratic primary....
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The article highlighted the reason Barrow was so eager to have Obama record an ad endorsing him and why it's so potentially important in helping Barrow win his primary:
Barrow beat a Republican incumbent in 2004 and had tough GOP opposition in 2006. But this April, Barrow picked up unexpected opposition from Regina Thomas, a well-known African-American state senator based in Savannah. Barrow is white, and in past primaries in the 12th District, black voters have cast nearly 70 percent of the ballots.
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And now Obama turns around and intervenes in a Democratic primary on behalf of one of the worst Bush enablers in Congress -- not in order to help Barrow defeat an even-worse Republican, but to defeat a far better and plainly credible Democratic challenger.
For all of Obama's talk about the wicked ways of Washington, these incumbent protection schemes -- whereby Beltway power factions all help each other stay in power no matter their ideology or positions -- are among the most vital instruments for perpetuating how Washington works. Democratic leaders pretend that they are forced continuously to capitulate to the Bush administration due to their "conservative" members, yet continuously work to keep those same members in power, even when it comes to supporting them against far better Democratic primary challengers.
Obama has made himself a central part of that rancid scheme. Recall that in 2006, Obama -- who now touts his commitment to ending the war -- endorsed Joe Lieberman in his Connecticut primary race over war opponent Ned Lamont, appearing with Lieberman to say: "Joe Lieberman's a man with a good heart, with a keen intellect, who cares about the working families of America . . . . I am absolutely certain that Connecticut's going to have the good sense to send Joe Lieberman back to the United States Senate."
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Making matters much worse here, Obama -- who has removed himself almost completely from the pending eavesdropping and telecom amnesty debate -- recorded this ad for Barrow on the eve of that bill's passage, all in order to keep in power a key Democratic supporter of this FISA/amnesty bill. Yet telecom amnesty is not merely a side issue but is one of the purest expressions of what Obama claims so vigorously to oppose in Washington.
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The proposed compromise would allow a federal district court to dismiss a suit if the company was provided written assurances that Bush authorized their participation in the spy program and that it was legal, sources said.
The telecom amnesty bill is something that has been engineered by telecom lobbyists from start to finish, while Bush officials engineer the part of the bill to provide full-scale warrantless eavesdropping powers. While the ACLU and other grass-roots groups have been shut out of the negotiation over this bill almost completely -- it's been conducted, like most important government processes, totally in the dark -- telecom lobbyists are not only fully informed about what is going on but have been participating directly in the negotiations. Along with Bush officials, it's the telecoms' lobbyists who are "negotiating" with Congress over how to write the law providing for their own amnesty from breaking the laws passed by Congress.
This is everything Obama claims so vehemently to oppose, claims he wants to end. And yet the Congress under the control of his party is about to enact a radical bill to legalize vast new warrantless eavesdropping powers and immunize telecoms who broke our country's laws for years. And not only is Obama doing nothing about any of that, but far more, he's actively intervening in a Democratic primary to help one of the worst enablers of all of this stay in power, while helping to defeat an insurgent, community-based challenger.
None of that is enjoyable to write or accept, but those are just facts. There is a disturbing tendency on all sides to view Obama through a reductive Manichean lens -- either he's the embodiment of pure transformative Good who is going magically to cleanse our polity the minute he takes office, or he's nothing other than a mindless, passive tool of the establishment whose pretty rhetoric masks a barren ambition for power and who is no better than McCain. Neither of those caricatures is remotely accurate, and a John McCain presidency would be an unmitigated disaster on every level.
But it's critical to keep in mind that Obama is a politician and, like all people, is plagued by significant imperfections. He has largely entrenched himself in, and is dependent upon, the power structure he says he wants to undermine. Uncritical devotion to political leaders, including him, is destructive. Obama needs pressure, criticism, checks, and real scrutiny just like anyone else in power in order to keep him accountable, responsive, and faithful to the principles he claims are the ones driving him.
Pressure of that sort should include demanding that he take meaningful action against this Draconian and lawlessness-enabling bill. This is, after all, a bill which his own party is seeking to pass and justifying their behavior, in part, by claiming that they're doing it to protect Obama politically from being attacked as Weak on Terrorism. If this bill passes and Obama does nothing to stop it, he'll bear significant responsibility for its enactment. Here's his campaign's phone number: (866) 675-2008. I'll post other contact information as people leave it in comments.
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http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/
I don't really have too much to add, other than that I agree with Mr. Greenwald. Barack Obama is our nominee, and we must support him. However, we should remember that he's not only a human being (shocker to some), but an ambitious politician who will at times, and FISA is now an example, knowingly do the wrong thing in order to gain power (REAL shocker to some).
We have to support him as much as we can, while keeping as much pressure on him as we can to ensure that he pushes our agenda, and not the agenda he believes will help his political career.
So, to all MyDDers out there, if you care about warrantless wiretapping and our Constitution, I suggest you take just a minute or two off from donating to Obama, canvassing for Obama, and making phone calls for Obama, and instead pick up the phone, call Obama's campaign, tell them how horribly wrong our candidate is on this issue, and urge them to get the message to Obama that his constituents are demanding the change that he keeps promising us, as it relates to the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program.
UPDATE: Thanks for my first Rec List diary. And apologies to anyone in the comments that is attempting to offer constructive criticism of my diary, but are using the term "concern troll" in the process. I have thin skin as it relates to that term. In fact, its one of the reasons I left Daily Kos. This apology extends to everyone but the first person who commented in my diary, because that person was simply making a personal attack without and positive intent. Also, I would suggest a strategy to influence the warrantless wiretapping debate, make our "concerns" known to our nominee, and still support our nominee, at the same time. We only have one candidate left now, and so it is now Barack Obama's personal responsibility to stand up for our Democratic ideals. I would suggest donating to the ACLU and/or to Regina Thomas' campaign, and then contacting the Obama campaign, informing them of your contribution, and telling them you'll match the contribution to the Obama campaign if the Senator speaks out in favor of killing the FISA "compromise". You can donate to Regina Thomas here: http://www.actblue.com/page/blueamerica08 And you can donate to the ACLU, which I recently joined, here: http://action.aclu.org/site/PageServer?pagename=FJ_donationhome UPDATE II: Wow, I can't believe I got my first Rec List diary on the same day I had my rec/rate privileges taken away without explanation, and probably due to losing my anger at someone who stalked me yesterday, and is stalking me in this very diary. What a bittersweet moment. I don't know whether to GBCW or pen another diary - and I'm being serious. UPDATE III: Looks like McJoan, the front-pager at Daily Kos, is a concern troll like me for stating: """Call Barack Obama and urge him to make a public statement reiterating his opposition to telco amnesty. His opposition could kill this deal: Phone (202) 224-2854, Fax (202) 228-4260""". DAMN THOSE FRONT PAGE DAILY KOS CONCERN TROLLS OUT TO SABOTAGE OBAMA - DAMN YOU MCJOAN!!!!!!!|
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