Organizing for America | Joshua Tinnin's Blog: Obama's position on the FISA bill and telecom immunity

Obama's position on the FISA bill and telecom immunity

By Joshua Tinnin - Jun 29th, 2008 at 7:24 pm EDT

Also listed in: New Mexico for Obama | Open Source Advocates for Obama | Taos for Obama

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Tags: Bush, civil liberties, FISA, telecom, wiretapping

I am more encouraged by Obama than any other politician I can remember, but it is because of his integrity, his honesty and his principles. With that in mind, I'm troubled with Obama's recent backtracking on his previous position on telecom immunity as part of a FISA amendment bill, recently passed in the House by many democrats who had previously stood on principle and said they would fight it. Why did their positions change? It looks like it has to do with money and old politics.

Now, I am in strong support of Obama's campaign and do feel he is the right candidate at the right time, but this is a test of his principles. Many of us are trying to put pressure on him to stick to his previous position: http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/SenatorObama-PleaseVoteAgainstFISA

This is not an anti-Obama effort, but an opportunity to let Obama know that certain issues are very important to his constituency. As far as I can tell, there is no defensible position on telecom immunity. The only excuses come down to expediency, which amounts to caving in to telecom lobbying pressure. There is no benefit to us, we the people, and another six months in legal limbo is better than a bad law passing, requiring fixing later, which will be a much more difficult task. Obama previously stated he would support a filibuster, so why isn't he standing with Feingold, Dodd, et al, in their efforts to fight this needless and harmful giveaway of our rights?

I have contacted my Rep. Tom Udall to thank him for doing the right thing and voting against this bill, and to encourage him to put pressure on Obama to do the same, as well as our other senators in NM. I reminded him that we are a critical "purple" state and have been for about a decade now, and that we need people like Udall in our corner, as well as bringing Obama back. I also contacted Obama's campaign to remind him of how important this issue is to me and so many others. I encourage you to do the same: http://get-fisa-right.wetpaint.com/page/What+else+you+can+do

I support Obama all the way, and I will continue to give as much time and money as possible, but he stated many times he wants us to be involved, and he wants feedback on issues important to us. This is the time for me to do so, and speak out on an issue very important to our rights, our Constitution and the future of our country.

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