I know Lew often links to Glenn Greenwald on the main page, but I just wanted to quote the great Glenn on Obama’s wholesale reversal on his campaign promise to oppose the FISA bill (so long as it had telecom immunity):
Obama’s vote in favor of cloture, in particular, cemented the complete betrayal of the commitment he made back in October when seeking the Democratic nomination. Back then, Obama’s spokesman — in response to demands for a clear statement of Obama’s views on the spying controversy after he had previously given a vague and noncommittal statement — issued this emphatic vow: “To be clear: Barack will support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies.”
But the bill today does include retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies. Nonetheless, Obama voted for cloture on the bill — the exact opposition of supporting a filibuster — and then voted for the bill itself. A more complete abandonment of an unambiguous campaign promise is difficult of imagine.
