This Wednesday, the Senate followed the House in caving to White House fear-mongering by passing an unconstitutional overhaul of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The FISA Amendments Act (FAA) dangerously expands the president’s warrantless wiretapping powers far beyond what the Constitution allows. Perhaps even more controversially, the FAA also contains provisions intended by the Administration to grant retroactive immunity from civil suits to the telecommunications companies that colluded in the president’s illegal warrantless wiretapping program.
I, personally, was horrified to see that Obama voted YEA. He has spoken-out against FISA's immunity section for some time now and even voted for a motion which would have removed it from the bill. Despite the TeleComs' immunity being removed, he still voted for FISA's approval. I know that a great deal of voters lost heart when he made that decision.
I, for one, will continue to stand by him. I know that, of the current candidates of all parties, he is the most in-line with my politics. However, I will be greatly disappointed if he does not act with more integrity in the future. If there is even the slimmest chance that Senator Obama will read this post, I want him to read this message:
Barack, you have the votes needed to become the President of the United States of America. Not through making your opposition comfortable with you, but rather because WE the people (the vast majority of hopeful Americans) have stood by you and saw in you the same dreams which we cling to. If you stray to far in your search for votes from those outside your main driving force, you will begin to lose the core of your foundation. Stay true to the man you have been, the politics you have had in the past, and the ethics you have written about in your books.
