Legal Commentary

What Obama Can Do Now On FISA

By Big Tent Democrat

Last night, on Countdown, Russ Feingold said we can fix it FISA if Barack Obama is elected President. Fine. Now here is what Obama can do now to help that happen.

Barack Obama can pledge, if he is elected President, to instruct his Administration to comply with FISA, as it existed prior to the passage of the Protect America Act and the most recent Amendment, passed yesterday. Barack Obama can pledge that in his Administration, the Executive Branch will comply with FISA (with the caveat that the one fix that was considered necessary, that telephone calls whose only nexus with the United States is the incidental passage of the communication through a United States based telecommunications node). Just because the Congress gutted FISA does not mean that an Obama Administration needs to act like the Bush Administration.

More . .

Barack Obama can also present FISA legislation he will propose when he is President. He can run on the FISA fix he will propose. He can win a mandate for that change (unfortunately, retroactive telecom immunity is now irrevocable.)

Finally, Obama can promise that when he is President, he will either appoint a commission or ask that Congress create a commission (along the lines of the Church Commission) to investigate what abuses took place during the Bush Administration. And I know just the guy to chair it - Russ Feingold.

My expectation of his doing any of these things is nil. But that is my point really. The time for Obama to stand up on FISA was now, so that he could stand up if and when he becomes President. His recent actions on FISA pretty much preclude a FISA fix when he is President imo.

There are a number of Obama bloggers who are upset that people like Glenn Greenwald are taking Obama to task for this. They want us to leave Obama alone. Some really never cared about this issue, as they themselves admit. But the ones who profess to care, seem not to understand that beyond the global political problem of Obama's propensity to triangulate in DLC fashion, the FISA issue has been severely damaged by Obama's actions. Feingold wants another go at it if and when Obama is President. Obama's actions make this that much harder to do.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on July 10, 2008 (boomark / email).