Obama’s Path From Critic to Overseer of Spying

NY Times ^ | January 15, 2014 | Peter Baker

[C19fan]

As a young lawmaker defining himself as a presidential candidate, Barack Obama visited a center for scholars in August 2007 to give a speech on terrorism. He described a surveillance state run amok and vowed to rein it in. “That means no more illegal wiretapping of American citizens,” he declared. “No more national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime.”

.......................................................

Feeling little pressure to curb the security agencies, Mr. Obama largely left them alone until Mr. Snowden began disclosing secret programs last year. Mr. Obama was angry at the revelations, privately excoriating Mr. Snowden as a self-important narcissist who had not thought through the consequences of his actions.

[C19fan]

Typical liberal who once in power loves the levers of power. Regarding Snowden pot calling the kettle black.

[CincyRichieRich]

Duh.

Only a fool would not think at this point that bho is not making all secrets about the US available for all to see...nuclear, nsa, etc. There are likely no secrets left. Wiki may run out of space in the next 3 yrs, if the US is still standing.

[Sacajaweau]

Saving the patient after it's dead??

Anyone think they'll really cut out any of this snooping??

I got a bridge...

[RedStateRocker]

It’s not a liberal or conservative thing, it’s power corrupting.

Even the most authentically conservative politicians, once they get a taste of power, often seem to develop a whole set of reasonings as to why the influence of the State should be brought to bear in new and often extra-constitutional ways- matter how much they proclaim their belief in strict constructionism. Just like we are observing with the most liberal of liberals ponce in power finding all sorts of justifications for continuing and expanding things they once condemned.

[subterfuge]

Um, no. Obama has been a lying pos from day one. Since birth, actually. He is damaged goods. Period.

[DJ MacWoW]

Jan 3, 2014 A secretive U.S. spy court has ruled again that the National Security Agency can keep collecting every American's telephone records every day

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[dead]

I haven't read the article, but since its the NY Times, I bet its the story of an idealistic young liberal chap, swirled about by forces beyond his control.

Always wanting to do the right thing, hard choices none-the-less force him to make difficult decisions that rub against his idealistic grain.

Though some of his actions in this area have been "questionable", external forces and the overall corrupting nature of power are really to blame for his lapses.

Hopefully, some of these hard choices have taught our noble protagonist to think more carefully about how his well-intentioned choices can have negative consequences. There is hope for him yet, since he's not a Republican.

[dead]

Mr. Obama was surprised to learn after leaks by Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor, just how far the surveillance had gone.

[dead]

Well, I guessed some of their points, but was wrong about the overall theme of their attempt to excuse the President's actions.

Instead of the poor lamb corrupted, they actually went with the "he didn't know nothing bout nothing" defense. The surveillance expansion just sort of organically happened without anybody actually making any real decisions since the Bush Administration.

[Chuzzlewit]

yep.. hence we have Limbaugh’s theorem on the prez.