Bloggers Slam Barack Obama on FISA Vote

Barack Obama taking the heat on telco immunity support. Hillary Clinton earns chops for opposing amnesty for AT&T, Verizon and other carriers. John McCain remains AWOL in aftermath of Senate vote.

Gail from Oldwick, N.J., was an ardent supporter of Barack Obama before his July 9 vote supporting legal immunity for telephone carriers that participated in President Bush's domestic spying program. After the vote, she said she is "ashamed" she taught her parrot to squawk, "Obama Yes We Can!"

Ditto for Robert from Hampden, Maine, who wrote: "What comes next? From us, no more contributions, canvassing, phone banking or campaigning on your behalf ... until we see what comes next from you. So far, the real change appears to be in you, not Washington."

And those are comments from Obama's official presidential campaign site, BarackObama.com. Opposition to Obama's vote is so strong there, site bloggers who organized "Senator Obama—Please Vote NO on Telecom Immunity—Get FISA Right" are almost 20,000 strong. It's the largest blogger community on Obama's site.

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Outside the world of Obama's site, criticism of his vote was also harsh. Elliottback.com ran a campaign photo of Obama with the caption: "Illegal Wiretaps We Can Believe In." Kevin Hayden on American Street wrote, "I won't vote for McCain. But I won't vote for Obama either. I will vote for a third party candidate and if enough other progressives do, causing an Obama loss? Oh well, too bad, so sad that Obama lacks the spine or wisdom to defend the Constitution."

The vote, though, does not appear to be a deal breaker between Obama and his true believers.

As Ian from Laurel, Md., wrote on the Obama site, "By all means, let's get Obama in the White House, as disappointed as we are in his decision to turn on us on FISA.  But let's also send the only message that Congress will get through their thick skulls about how disappointed we are—throw the bums out."

Mark Klieman at Samefacts.com called Obama's vote "politically wise" and "substantively harmless." He is, however, glad "lots of people are really, really outraged about unconstitutional spying, and about amnesty for lawbreaking. But this is not a life-or-death issue. All of the damage done by the passage of the bill will be undone by the election of Barack Obama as President."

How? Klieman noted Obama "has no reason either to block internal investigation within the Executive Branch or to use the claim of 'executive privilege' to shut down Congressional investigation. So the goal of revealing the extent of the Bush/telco lawlessness is not defeated by the civil-immunity provision."

Less noted in the blogosphere uproar over Obama's vote is Hillary Clinton's vote against immunity and John McCain's ducking the whole thing by not showing up for the vote.

"Hillary Clinton is not worried about being called weak, because she isn't,” wrote Taylor Marsh on TaylorMarsh.com. “Obama seemed to have to prove his strength by caving to wingnut talking points because he was afraid of being tagged 'weak on national security.' The difference between them today was starkly drawn."

As for McCain, his campaign site made not a single note about skipping the vote. His senate site hasn’t been updated in days and bloggers, well, simply yawned.

Reader Comments: Bloggers Slam Barrack Obama on FISA Vote >>> Post your comment now! the constitution protects security AND privacy Sorry, Ted, but your commentary concerning the Bill of Rights and the right to privacy is absolutely dead wrong. The issue is not clouded by the... Posted At: 09-20-08 By: Marc Domestically, it most certainly is illegal It is well established that a court order is needed for a government agency to tap the phones of American citizens. You're flat out wrong. Of... Posted At: 07-16-08 By: Brian Rapp A user comment on this article Russ Feingold? Sorry you have so much faith in him. Posted At: 07-16-08 By: A realist If you think Obama vote was watch this... I am reading all the complaints about Obama not standing up for the little guy but we all forget about our current President. Watch the clip on... Posted At: 07-16-08 By: Cliff Samuels Jr A user comment on this article the sad thing is that the media pick him andshow only things thaty made him look good so they could sell him to the people Did you notice that obama... Posted At: 07-15-08 By: mainemom A user comment on this article i am glad that people are seeing him as he really is not the image the media show you people should look at the man not at the image the media... Posted At: 07-15-08 By: mainemom A user comment on this article are you really it is the demo who in congress that have made life hard on the people DO-NOT VOTE THE PARTY LINE people who vote for demo will vote... Posted At: 07-15-08 By: mainemom >>> Post your comment now!

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