Markos Moulitsas of blog DailyKos talks to MSNBC's Keith Obermann about Barack Obama and his switch to support for greater government surveillance powers.
The Los Angeles Times put it this way: Nomination in hand, Obama stiffs the Dem left on FISA vote.
That Barack Obama jog toward the political center now that he's won the Democratic nomination appears to have turned into a full-fledged dash today. And there's a lot of folks on the left side of his party that are unhappy.
FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, is the 1970s era law that put curbs on domestic intelligence gathering after congressional investigations found "that the executive branch had routinely perpetrated civil liberties violations against civilians on a massive scale in violation of federal law". The New York Times found that the Bush administration had an illegal warrantless wiretapping programme in the wake of 9/11 and civil libertarians were furious that major telecommunications firms co-operated with the programme. Tech blog BoingBoing has a good overview of the FISA debate if you feel lost in the details.
Barack Obama had pledged to block a bill that granted retroactive immunity to telecommunications firms, but in he backtracked on that pledge after winning the Democratic nomination. John Paczkowski, who writes the Digital Daily blog for the Wall Street Journal, called it the Eye of Sauron Act and said it will mean the dismissal of some 40 lawsuits pending against telecommunications firms.
Mr DailyKos, Markos Moulitsas, said that Barack Obama won't lose support but will lose the intensity of support that he has enjoyed. However, he might also lose his fund raising edge with his broad base of internet supporters feeling betrayed.
"I don't want to hear him talk about leadership. I don't want to hear him talk about defending the Constitution, I want him to do it," Moulitsas said.
But will it hurt Obama's election chances? One of the most active groups on his own social network website, my.barackobama.com, has been one to press him to keep his pledge. And, now some of the loudest criticism is coming from there. As the New York Times points out, a voter named Patrick from Obama's home city of Chicago said, "Can I get my money back this candidate appears to be defective".
Blogger Nicholas Johnson asked: Where have you gone, Barack Obama?
What is Obama doing to himself, his campaign, and his one-time enthusiastic, hopeful young supporters -- and why? And what options do his disaffected former supporters now have?
On Barack Obama's site, Ian from Laurel Maryland saves his anger for Congress and specifically Congressional Democrats:
By all means, let's get Obama in the White House, as disappointed as we are in his decision to turn on us on FISA. But let's also send the only message that Congress will get through their thick skulls about how disappointed we are-- Throw the bums out.
One of Obama's advantages going into the general election has been not only his strong support online, but his strong fund raising operation online. It was one of the reasons that he decided to forego public funding (another change in position). The blog Political Page says that the 'netroots' feel betrayed especially because Obama voted for the bill and his rival Hillary Clinton voted against it.
On the Huffington Post, Bob Ostertag called on Obama supporters to vote with their wallets and give money to Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold instead of Obama this month as an act of protest. Senator Feingold has been one of the most vocal opponents against the surveillance bill. Senator Feingold's campaign manager says that they have seen a "massive spike" in contributions.
