Maybe because you didn't give him any time to do anything before
you give your caustic remarks about Obama? think. think. think.
before you talk.
You assume that he represents "change" while I don't.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/02/america/obama.php
WASHINGTON: Senator Barack Obama's decision
to support legislation granting legal immunity to
telecommunications companies that cooperated with the Bush
administration's program of wiretapping without warrants has led to
an intense backlash among some of his most
ardent supporters.
Thousands are now using the same grass-roots organizing tools
previously mastered by the Obama campaign to organize a protest
against his decision.
In recent days, more than 7,000 Obama supporters have organized
on a social networking site on Obama's own campaign Web site. They
are calling on him to reverse his decision to endorse
legislation supported by President George W. Bush to expand the
government's domestic spying powers while also providing legal
protection to the telecommunications companies that worked with the
National Security Agency's domestic wiretapping program after the
Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
During the Democratic primary campaign, Obama vowed to fight
such legislation to update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Act, or FISA. But he has switched positions and now supports a
compromise hammered out between the White House and the Democratic
congressional leadership. The bill is expected to come to a vote on
the Senate floor on Tuesday.
The decision, one of a number made by Obama intended to position
him toward the political center as the general election campaign
heats up, has brought him into serious conflict for the first time
with liberal bloggers and commentators and his
young supporters.
Many of them have seen the issue of granting immunity to
the telecommunications companies as a test of principle in their
opposition to Bush's surveillance program. "I don't think
there has been another instance where, in meaningful numbers, his
supporters have opposed him like this," said Glenn Greenwald, a
writer for Salon.com who opposes Obama's new position.
Jane Hamsher, a liberal blogger who also opposes immunity for
the phone companies, said she had been flooded with messages from
Obama supporters who are frustrated with his new stance.
"The opposition to Obama's position among his supporters is very
widespread," said Hamsher, founder of the Web site firedoglake.com.
"His promise to filibuster earlier in the year, and the decision to
switch on that, is seen as a real character problem. I know people
who are really very big Obama supporters are
very disillusioned."
One supporter, Robert Arellano, expressed his anger over the
issue on the Obama site. "I have watched your campaign with genuine
enthusiasm, and I have given you money," he said. "For the first
time in my life, I have sensed the presence of a presidential
candidate who might actually bring some meaningful change to the
corrupt cesspool of national politics. But your about-face on the
FISA bill genuinely angers and alarms me."
For now, the campaign is trying to put a positive spin on the
FISA fight among its supporters.
"The fact that there is an open forum on BarackObama.com where
supporters can say whether they agree or disagree speaks to a
strength of our campaign," said Bill Burton, a
campaign spokesman.
Several activists and bloggers predicted that Obama's move
toward the center on some issues could sharply reduce the intensity
of support that he has enjoyed from liberal activists. Such
enthusiasm helped power Obama's effort to secure the nomination,
and it has been one of his campaign's most important tools for
fund-raising and organizing around the country.
Markos Moulitsas, a liberal blogger and founder of the Daily Kos
Web site, said he had decided to cut back on the amount of money he
would contribute to the Obama campaign because of the FISA
reversal. "I will continue to support him," Moulitsas said in an
interview. "But I was going to write him a check, and I decided I
would rather put that money with Democrats who will uphold
the Constitution."
Greg Craig, a Washington lawyer who advises the Obama campaign,
said Tuesday in an interview that Obama had decided to support the
compromise FISA legislation only after concluding it was the best
deal possible.
"This was a deliberative process, and not something that was
shooting from the hip," Craig said. "Obviously, there was an
element of what's possible here. But he concluded that with FISA
expiring, that it was better to get a compromise than letting the
law expire."
