FISA - How Obama can choose to lose the War, but still fight the Battle

I wrote a heartfelt letter to Barack Obama last night.

In my letter, I urged Barack to fight to remove the Immunity Provision for the Telecomm from the bill in question as he has promised he would. I also urged that in failing to do such, he should vote against the bill.

It is clear to me that barring a miracle, Barack most likely will not be able to mobilize enough votes to strip the provision, and in addition, he will not be able to stop the bill from becoming law. In his voting NO (which is what most of us wish for), the media will have a field day in describing his first post-Nominee battle and how he lost it. He will be slandered as "ineffective". Couple that with his less than stellar fundraising May numbers, and the attacks that he flip-flopped on Public financing, the media will get their wish; a bludgeon to hammer Obama over the head for as long as they so determine.

As such time, the Republicans will start making their commercial portraying Barack Obama as weak on National Security. They will point to his "pre" 2001 mentality, and how enabling terrorists is the reason that he should not be elected. The media will go with that, removing all nuances of the issue (as they always do), and allow the "Bumper Sticker" slogan aimed at Democrats, i.e., they are weak on NS, to rule the airwaves. Democrats who vote for the FISA bill will attempt to distance themselves from Senator Obama. His statement from yesterday will be jutapoxed against his "NO" vote and he will be portrayed as a Flip-Flopper, because the RNC with the assistance of the Media can. Obama will have no explaination for it other than saying that doing what was right won over political pragmatism.

The bill will be signed by George Bush who will call it a victory against Obama and the liberals, and a win for Bush/McCain.

The LIV will downgrade Obama for this action, without them truly understanding the whys and hows of it all. They will be forced to rely on the media to explain it to them. The media will oblige.

Obama's lead against McCain will shrink and he will get a few points behind McCain, in particular, in some of the swing states. Whether the attack on this issue will cost him and us longer than a couple of weeks or throughout the general election is an unknown.

Obama's defense will come in how he chooses to articulate his decision and how he can convey such to the American people. In voting NO on the FISA bill, this will be his only tool. The media may or may not air his rebuttals, because they won't have to if they don't want to.

That leaves us, the Democratic base. In particular the Blogsphere who then will be content in knowing that Obama stood for something, no matter what it costs politically.

If he so chooses to act as I have outlined, I will offer him the solace that in him doing what is right, even if it meant losing, he will have stayed true to himself and to his base.....which in reality is the only way that he can win with us, even if he loses.

We are all aware that with running a Senator, comes the consequences of vunerabilities called votes. We are willing to accept this because standing up for the 4th amendment means more to us than winning an election. It is to some degree a choice, and we are making it.

Some will see the catch 22; others won't give a shit about it.

Whatever Obama chooses to do, regardless, I will still respect him for it....because, you see, he cannot win with us unless he loses that battle (because he will) .....and that is something he will come to understand once he has read our many letters.

I urge all here to write to your own senators and to Newspapers in the LTTE format and I am serious about this. If nothing else, we need to provide the support Barack will need prior to the fact. We need to make his fall as cushioned as possible. If we are not willing to do this, then we cannot speak as to what we expect from him. We have less than a week to do what we can to turn the political climate on this issue that he, and by extension us, will have to content against.

The right have been listening to our discontent of Barack since Friday, and they are strategizing....so don't expect turning the tide to be easily doable.

I will be writing my letters to the Editors and to my senator (only one will vote for FISA as far as I know), and I will be posting them to this thread.

We are the ones that we have been waiting for, and I don't believe that Barack Obama can win or lose this election on his own. We can bitch and moan about what he might or might not do and become spectators to the spectacle, OR we can take smart action to enable Sen. Obama to make the right decision. It is work for us to get this done, but Barack has warned us again and again that it wouldn't be easy.

And so, let me know what you think.

From a pragmatic POV, I don't see a problem with that.

Even I believe that he must stand by his beliefs, and he let it be known that he doesn't believe that granting immunity to the telecom is right.

Now, should he win the presidency, considering that his actions next week will not impact the passage of the bill, only the strategy of the elections, he will have the power to still pursue the Telecom Companies via criminal charges. That is the small consolation prize, considering that the bill will pass.

and if I had to do it again, I'd still support him despite my incredible disappointment over this issue and anger over the timing of a bill Democrats should have let expire.

I appreciate the thoughtful way you laid it out because it's very calming. I've contacted all my representatives already and Obama's offices. The only thing I'm waiting on now is an explanation from Obama which I'm sure we'll get soon.

I hope the Right isn't strategizing based on our criticism because that criticism isn't affecting my loyalty or desire to see Obama win.

WE. Yes WE can! Yes WE will!

:hug:

The Right is overjoyed in the pressure by the Left on Obama. And why wouldn't they be? Considering they know the bill will pass.....unless we can get 60 senators, and I count 40 at most if we are lucky. :shrug:

Schumer..thanks for the eloquent letter to Obama, Frenchie. I'm writing to Obama, too.

I hope every single DUer reads what you have written. Barack was right: It ain't easy. It never will be easy. If we all fold every time he does something we don't agree with, we are lost. I'm hoping for the best on the telecom immunity. But I never thought he would be able to please me personally every time out; no politician can do that. I'm not giving up on Obama, no way.

We must be reasoned. That's all I'm saying.

If every person wanting Obama to do what they believe is "right", they would write to their local newspaper, one national publication, and to one choice of Cable shows. Now that would help us and Barack a great deal.

You and grantcart have done Sen. Obama a great service in your spirited defense of his statement on this issue. I sincerely admire you for that.

But as many progressives have indicated, we're not stupid. We KNOW Obama opposes telecom immunity. That is one thing that he has always been against. So, the soft tone used towards the bill passed by the House raised the eyebrows of some. Obama, in particular, has had much harsher words for the telecoms and retroactive immunity. This is political strategy - pure politics. After seeing this phenomenal candidate rise above politics, it is a bit disorienting to see him now playing it.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. Ultimately we have to WIN. And aggravating as it sounds, having a safe and sound Fourth Amendment won't do much for us if we have a President McCain. I've heard from one of my politico acquaintances that assures me there is a winning strategy behind what we see going on with this FISA bill. I hope so. But even if there isn't, even if this bill isn't stalled, even if an amendment stripping retroactive immunity isn't passed, we'll continue to move forward with the goal of electing a Democratic President. We don't have a choice.

looking at both sides of the catch22 and understanding that no matter what Obama does, the chances are that the bill will still pass. So actually what we are wanting is to see him stand up, regardless of the price. I'm leaving it up to him to measure whether the price is too high or not, based on the fact, that I reiterate; the bill will pass.

and I strongly believe Obama does, sometimes it's necessary for the greater good in the long run. What grumblers of Obama don't understand, is that he's not president yet. I have every optimistic thought that he WILL become president, but only with the support of us. Whatever decision he has to make AS A SENATOR, has got to tough considering it only slices out some of the "fat" that this administration has wrapped us in for these long 7+ years. If something were to happen between now and the election, and Obama voted "no" for this, it would be all over. McCain would win hands down, because the right would smother us with this "error."

I have full faith that Barack Obama is looking towards the long road in this decision and I'm sure he expects to hear some grumblers. I'm just not going to be one of them. Decisions are hard and while we may not always understand at the moment, in the end we usually see why.

I'm sure Senator Obama's decision is not one that he has taken lightly. I feel for him because he's dammed if he does and he's dammed if he doesn't. Many forget that he's not president yet and as much as we hate that "politics" comes into play probably for this decision, it's part of winning the big prize. We still play by Bush's rules (whether we like it or not)for a few more months.

I will not be one questioning Obama's decision. He gets my full support because I happen to believe that not only is the best candidate we've had in a long time, he much smarter than me:D

He got pretty far on claiming he had better judgment that Hillary so why does he need to all terra commando now?
:shrug:

you know that.Right:shrug:

It's not just his compelling life story and buff physique, it's the fact that he actually managed to say "no" to torture, war, and exploitation. And now he wants to throw all that away on some stupid CIA lollipop?

It's completely insane and he needs to KNOW that this is NOT what people are supporting!

that's why we're chatting here, and he's a first term Senator a hair's breadth from the Presidency

Yes, he's popular, but he's not inevitable, and if he's already counting his chickens and setting up his oval office gestapo operation -- which it looks to me like he is -- he's in for a rude awakening.

get the fuck out

and go with the flow.

:rofl:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh0qD0aA2bY