Well, the enemy knew all about the program since their buddies in the Senate, Rockefellar and Reid and other blabbermouths announced the program. So, in essence it was mostly neutralized anyway, but I tend to agree that atleast this way, the program won't be undercut by the lefties in Congress. Sometimes you have to play best with the lousy hand you're dealt and Bush is doing the best he can under these conditions.
Is there no principle subject to negotiation? Is there no course subject to reversal? For the Bush administration to argue for years that this program, as operated, was critical to our national security and fell within the president's Constitutional authority, to then turnaround and surrender presidential authority this way is disgraceful. The administration's repudiating all the arguments it has made in testimony, legal briefs and public statements. This goes to the heart of the White House's credibility. How can it cast away such a fundamental position of principle and law like this?
January 17 By LARA JAKES JORDAN Secret Court to Govern Wiretapping Plan etc....
the administration didn't need to "play" at all. congress had options - they could have challenged the constitutionality of the president's power here. If they had won, the FISA oversight would have been restored (which happened now anyway).
at least with this approach, we could have had a political issue to fight over. let the Dems be the ones to take down terrorist surveillance.