Posted on 04/14/2009 7:46:00 AM PDT by Starman417
Democratic candidate hopeful, Barack Obama, on the campaign trail in January of '08:
Obama: No warrantless wiretaps if you elect meby Anne Broache
HANOVER, N.H.--Barack Obama may be leading the Democratic presidential pack in every major poll here, but that didn't dissuade the Illinois senator from a final early-morning rally with the Facebook generation.
Clearly not content to leave their votes to the whims of online politicking, the Illinois senator stepped onto a stage fashioned in a Dartmouth College gymnasium, pulled an index card from his inside jacket pocket, and launched into a familiar set of talking points centered on what has become a familiar theme for his campaign: change and hope.
"My job this morning is to be so persuasive...that a light will shine through that window, a beam of light will come down upon you, you will experience an epiphany, and you will suddenly realize that you must go to the polls and vote for Barack," he told a crowd of about 300 Ivy Leaguers--and, by the looks of it, a handful of locals who managed to gain access to what was supposed to be a students-only event.
For one thing, under an Obama presidency, Americans will be able to leave behind the era of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and "wiretaps without warrants," he said. (He was referring to the lingering legal fallout over reports that the National Security Agency scooped up Americans' phone and Internet activities without court orders, ostensibly to monitor terrorist plots, in the years after the September 11 attacks.)
It's hardly a new stance for Obama, who has made similar statements in previous campaign speeches, but mention of the issue in a stump speech, alongside more frequently discussed topics like Iraq and education, may give some clue to his priorities.
In our own Technology Voters' Guide, when asked whether he supports shielding telecommunications and Internet companies from lawsuits accusing them of illegal spying, Obama gave us a one-word response: "No."
Some liberal Obama supporters were getting a clue on Iraq and wiretaps during the campaign season; but still, they came out to bat for The One, putting their eggs in the basketcase of "hope" and "change".
So after campaigning strongly against the Bush playbook, after being sworn in, after receiving security briefs, now that he's responsible for the consequences of making decisions, what does President Obama do? Adopt from the Bush playbook:
(Excerpt) Read more at Flopping Aces ...
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