Netroots feel jilted by Obama's FISA stand

Politico: Netroots feel jilted by Obama's FISA stand
By: Carrie Budoff Brown
June 26, 2008

When former Sen. John Edwards dropped out of the presidential race, the progressive Netroots took their affections to Barack Obama, defending him against attack from Hillary Rodham Clinton and others. But with his support of a government surveillance bill that offers retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies — a bill that he vowed last year to filibuster — the honeymoon has ended.

Disappointed over his position on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the online activists feel jilted and betrayed and have taken to questioning his progressive credentials. One prominent blogger, Atrios, has even given him the moniker “Wanker of the Day.” “He broke faith,” said Matt Stoller, a political consultant and blogger at OpenLeft.com. “Obama pledged to filibuster, and he is part of that old politics, in this case, that he said he wasn’t. It will spur us to challenge him.”

The FISA debate marks the presumptive Democratic nominee’s first serious break from the liberal Netroots in the general election. He is still their candidate, but the FISA issue has reignited skepticism among major bloggers, who had largely pushed aside doubts about Obama when Edwards, their favored candidate, ended his bid in February....

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Still, the disillusionment goes only so far. The liberal blogosphere’s most recognizable name, Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, founder of Daily Kos, said Monday on MSNBC’s “Countdown With Keith Olbermann”: “Let’s be honest, it is either Obama or John McCain. So we really don’t have much of a choice.”

At stake for Obama in the FISA vote is the intensity of support for Obama, Moulitsas said. “I don’t want to hear him talk about leadership. I don’t want to hear him talk about defending the Constitution. I want to see him do it,” he said. “If he does, it will increase the intensity and level of support he gets from base Democrats. If he doesn’t, we may worry he is just another one of these spineless Democrats who are more afraid of controversy in doing the right thing than they are in actually doing the right thing.”...

MoveOn.org has called upon its members to pressure Obama to “keep his word” and block the bill. Obama gave no indication that he would support a filibuster, and a press aide did not respond to requests for clarification on this point....

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=C1E91F7D-3048-5C12-00B14FD78D033453

I'll hold me nose and vote for him in November, but I won't be a member of his "Persuasion Army".

you're predictable as usual :eyes:

.

He's the Democratic candidate & there is no other option. Also, I can't obsess ove a single issue. Is Barack perfect? Far from it but McSame is so dangerous that ALL of the constitution will be in jeopardy if he is elected, not just the fourth amendment.

Could be the start of a cascade that will make the US Constituiton almost as relevant as the National Enquirer! But that seems to be acceptable to many, all because it's the only choice that Democrats have.

Once again we are left with voting for the lesser of two evils!

History repeating itself.

I'm as disappointed as anyone else regarding his FISA vote, but I am equally or more disappointed in the 94 other Democratic Senators who changed their minds about warrantless wiretapping and Telecoms' criminal behaviour as well as abdicated their clear responsibility to defend the Bill of Rights while filling their pockets with donations from Sprint and Verizon.

I knew it wouldn't work, but I knew that now more than ever is the time for McCain to realize he has opposition with a voice!

Your moment of clarity anong the poo-flinging is noted and appreciated, sourmilk. :thumbsup:

when it comes to them, I have disgust. I'm disappointed in Obama because I was expecting something better than the intellectually insulting statement he put out to explain his support for the compromise. Watch the money from Sprint and Verizon roll in to Obama now. The lawbreakers are being rewarded and law-abiding Telecoms like Qwest, who fought the administration at their financial peril, are being discouraged from not following illegal demands. I don't blame Obama for all, most or even much of this but I'm very disappointed he's not getting with his own program because that's what I signed up for, not the fuzzy-feely hope thing.

I feel like I just jumped on the band wagon only to have Obama laugh in my face and smack be down off said band wagon.

Here we go again... I thought this election would be different, but no. I'll be voting for the lesser of two evils yet again. This is pathetic.

I understand political posturing, but Obama's entire campaign centers around hope and change... nothing has changed, and that knocks the wind out of my hope.

That minor point, btw, shows that you can't paint everyone with a broad brush.

guess what else- i supported obama knowing who he is. gee josh golly, i looked at his record. he is my senator. i have been watching him from before his first day in the senate. i know he is not a kicking ass, taking names, throw myself on the fire kinda guy.
i supported him because i thought he had the winning combination.
i think most of the netroots understand all that.

:wow:

That's exactly how I feel now...

Even a constitutional scholar sees it as a vague and negotiable thing. Those of us who take all that constitutional stuff seriously are just fringe whackos.

He didn't need to do that to get the votes! He had this thing all sewn up!

What a fucking disappointment... I feel like he sucker-punched me off his bandwagon.

Especially on security?

We do our thing, they do theirs. It is, btw, "us versus them" and it will always be that way
in a system that requires financial supplication to even get in the game.

It's an election. We demand certain things and the only way to approach it is to hammer on "them"
at every opportunity and demand what's just and proper. We are the conscience - and by "we" I don't
mean just the left or Democrats, I mean all citizens who have desires and grievances that fit within
the promises made to us as citizens and based on our inherent rights as human beings.

Why be disappointed when things happen as they're expected to happen? Raise your voice but don't
waste time complaining.

don't feel jilted one bit.

Guess I have to write a letter on this one.