Say it Ain't So

Yesterday morning, I woke up to a flurry of emails from concerned participants in a Law Students for Obama list-serve that I’m on. A brouhaha had erupted over Obama’s vote for the recent FISA overhaul bill that gives immunity to telecommunications companies that provide information to the government via Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program. Plenty of people are pissed, and, in the wake of his vote, Obama even offered a justification to placate enraged supporters, consequently drawing even more scrutiny from commentators [and irate law students]. Is he succumbing to perceived political pressure from the right? Is it a shameless political move made in a desperate attempt to seem tough on national security? Is it political pragmatism? Does he really have such nuanced views about a program that operated covertly, and unconstitutionally, for years?

Frankly, I’m upset about Obama’s vote. Although I understand the argument that he needs to be pragmatic—e.g. not waste political capital fighting attack ads that portray him as “weak” on security—I think that this would have been a perfect chance for Obama to take a principled stance, go on the offensive, and reiterate his core message. Instead, he’s on the defensive, this time warding off criticism from his base instead of combating attacks from the right. Given that McCain wasn’t present on the Senate floor for the FISA vote, I don’t think that the right will get too much mileage out of all this. But I think that Obama’s FISA vote reflects, and possibly portends, some serious problems. Getting out of touch with your base on a key issue (Clinton, Dodd, et al voted against the FISA bill) might fuel the growing sentiment that Obama is wishy-washy and/or disingenuous. Why would Obama cast a vote that allows both ends to the political spectrum to brand him as a flip-flopper? Why is Obama wasting political capital defending his current position, and, in the process drawing even more attention to the disjoint between himself and the Democratic base?

But of course my real gripe is with the new FISA bill, a piece of legislation that will have some seriously negative repercussions for our civil liberties— not to mention that the bill would make it extraordinarily difficult to mount legal challenges against government surveillance measures (thanks to a fellow Obama list-server for the link).

On a final note, at least French intellectuals, not usually prone to optimism, believe that Obama is a sure thing (although the piece opens with some odd praise of McCain).