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Letter to Obama: Government of, by and FOR the people: no on FISA immunity.
Dear Senator:
As a baby boomer my first reaction to your latest position on FISA immunity was I believed you needed to continue on your goal of creating a new kind of cooperative atmosphere in Washington and also by necessity had to move towards the center on this for the general election but I have now reconsidering.
Part of the passion you have aroused in many of us but especially the next generation comes only in part from your promise to moderate partisanship. More importantly you have made us believe you are the change candidate. America lost its shine when Nixon walked away from his crime and was pardoned. It lost its shine when those involved with Irangate including Reagan and Bush Sr. walked away untarnished or pardoned. The present administration has made these previous abuses of executive power seem somehow innocent by comparison. With immunity for the telecoms comes a coverup of their many crimes.
Why did Scooter LIbby sit nonchalantly through his trial? He knew he would be pardoned and his Republican friends would make sure that even without a law license he would never want for employment. I know Bush and Cheney are going to walk as well. There will be no impeachment. But please, PLEASE!, take a stand for our Constitution on this one. THe telecoms can win their cases by explaining the coercion they experienced but as they testify the abuse of executive power will be made plain. Bush and Cheney et al may escape their just legal punishment but they should not be allowed to escape the judgement of history.
I now come to believe you will win if you take a stand on this. Give an impassioned speech on our Constitution--Americans need it!! Remind Americans why they have been a beacon to the world because up to the last few years we have indeed been the most successful experiment in government by and FOR the people ever conceived. Make Lincoln proud.
Comments (1)
I support Obama--one of the big reasons is that he presented himself as someone who would restore our constitutional rights, and the necessity for the executive branch to abide by these laws.
I support him because I felt he had a greater sense of humanity, morality--that he would do the right thing--set us on a path of a nation of laws again. End the war in Iraq. And further, not advance the notion of waging a war with Iran. You will read more false reports about nuclear weapons and Iran--the administration, even the democrats can talk about the danger of a nuclear Iran. One fact remains--there is zero confirmed evidence that Iran has a nuclear weapon--in fact, there is zero evidence that they even have a nuclear weapons program.
The situation being created now is "we can't wait until the smoking gun comes in the form of a mushroom cloud".
The biggest threat to peace and world economic stability is the current administration.
There are dangerous players on the world stage, no doubt. There always will be. If it's not the President of Iran, it will be someone else.
We will have to find a stasis. The international community will have to determine how to minimize terror--reduce it not so it doesn't exist--that's impossible. But to contain it.
Not by waging an all out war against it. There is no such thing as the war on terror. Not under the Bush administration, anyway. Bush created an unnecessary war in Iraq. They've gone through so many excuses, reasons for the occupation, and none of them have anything to do with fighting terrorism. Are we better off now that we've deposed a dictator like Saddam Hussein? No. Had we not invaded, Saddam would still be a petty dictator, but a non-threat to our homeland. Remember, he had zero weapons of mass destruction. So he would have been a dictator that did not pose a clear and present danger to the security of the United States.
I got off on a rant there--sorry, but back to Obama.
I oppose his position on FISA. I oppose the notion of doing whatever it takes to gain a democratic majority, if whatever it takes means democrats like Steny Hoyer and Pelosi will sell us out on this issue. I'm for a democratic majority--but we need better democrats in that majority.
July 3, 2008 3:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
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