One Utah

In an article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, Siobhan Gorman speculates that President Obama’s advisers will urge him to stick with disastrous and counterproductive Bush administration policies such as widespread illegal surveillance and torture. Apparently, these so-called “pragmatic” advisers have somehow missed noticing the abject failure of the so-called Global War of Terror and the loss of American prestige around the world.

Glenn Greenwald comments, “reports like this should be taken with a hefty dose of skepticism, as they are often used by people to push a President-elect in the direction they want him to go.” I hope he’s right, and we have nothing to worry about.

In October 2006, Senator Obama spoke out against Bush’s torture bill, calling it a “betrayal of American values.” Torture is morally repugnant, a stain on America’s honor, and intelligence interrogation experts will tell anyone who is willing to listen that torture doesn’t work. Yet the Bush administration approved torture at the highest levels, even holding meetings in the White House to discuss torture techniques.

Will President Obama listen to so-called “pragmatists” who claim that torture is OK as long as you don’t call it torture in public? I’m doubtful.

Senator Obama did vote for the unconstitutional FISA bill last June. He violated his oath as a member of Congress, and went back on a pledge to support a filibuster. It was an incredible about-face for a candidate regarded as an expert on the Constitution.

Since the FISA bill, we have learned, to the surprise of absolutely nobody, that NSA eavesdroppers routinely abused their power. Each instance of warrantless surveillance constitutes a felony, punishable with a $10,000 fine and up to 5 years in prison. President Bush lied about what the NSA was doing, as he stated that only terrorist suspects were being spied on.

So far, virtually everything we know about the NSA’s warrantless surveillance has come from whistle-blowers. Wired reports that more revelations are on the way. Obama’s inauguration on January 20, 2009 is expected to release a torrent of new leaks.

Will President Obama listen to so-called “pragmatists” who claim that warrantless surveillance of Americans is OK even though it violates the Constitution? It could happen, but I’m betting that when the truth comes out about Bush’s surveillance programs the politics will change.

This entry was posted Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 at 11:01 am and is filed under Barack Obama, Bush Administration, George W. Bush, National Politics, Terrorism, The Constitution, This Blog, Torture, Wiretapping. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.