Obamboozle

Imagine this.

You've committed a felony. The consequences are - the legislature will reassert that the law you've broken is the law of the land, and at the same time give you immunity from prosecution.

That is roughly what the Democrats are doing with regard to illegal wiretapping by the current administration.

We had hoped that that "change you can believe in" guy would at least put up some resistance to this. We didn't expect him to necessarily win, but to put up a fight. After all this is his first opportunity to keep a promise made during the campaign.

Obama instead did an about-turn - a flip-flop - and now is all in favor of what the Democrats are doing.

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Obama's justification -

Extremely short Obama: I got you by the balls, whatcha gonna do?

A bit longer Obama: I'm giving you a bunch of specious reasons for supporting a FISA bill that I opposed all during the primaries; you know I'm full of crap, and I know you know; but I'll have all the fishes and loaves of office to distribute, and you - you're going to vote for McCain?

The full Obama is here, and an excerpt is below.

Democracy cannot exist without strong differences. And going forward, some of you may decide that my FISA position is a deal breaker. That's ok. But I think it is worth pointing out that our agreement on the vast majority of issues that matter outweighs the differences we may have. After all, the choice in this election could not be clearer. Whether it is the economy, foreign policy, or the Supreme Court, my opponent has embraced the failed course of the last eight years, while I want to take this country in a new direction. Make no mistake: if John McCain is elected, the fundamental direction of this country that we love will not change. But if we come together, we have an historic opportunity to chart a new course, a better course.

Obama's pol-speak comes on a day when the third judge who has looked at all this asserts the original FISA is unambiguously the law of the land. In Glenn Greenwald's words:

A Bush-41-appointed Federal District Judge yesterday became the third judge -- out of three who have ruled on the issue -- to reject the Bush administration's claim that Article II entitles the President to override or ignore the provisions of FISA. Yesterday's decision by Judge Vaughn Walker of the Northern District of California also guts the central claims for telecom immunity and gives the lie to the excuses coming from Congress as to why the new FISA bill is some sort of important "concession." More than anything else, this decision is but the most recent demonstration that, with this new FISA bill, our political establishment is doing what it now habitually does: namely, ensuring that the political and corporate elite who break our laws on purpose are immune from consequences.

The many ways how Obama is full of shit is described here.