Today, Chris Bowers staked out a case for not trusting the Obama Administration. Tomorrow, he promises to compile the opposite, the case for trust.
But today’s post is worth a read. Relevant to our blog here, is the following:
Because President Obama flip-flopped on FISA: Finally, I don’t trust President Obama himself because he flip-flopped on FISA due to right-wing pressure in the campaign. During the primaries, he vowed to fight telecom immunity tooth and nail, but once the primaries were over, he just flat-out flipped his position. This was a straightforward case where President Obama changed a position as a result of shifting political pressure. The conclusion I drew from that event is that it is possible to change Obama’s public positions if there was enough political pressure for him to change, and that such pressure was necessary because he was willing to cave into right-wing demands if they applied enough pressure.
In short, FISA was the “distrust and pressure” object lesson for me. From that point on, there could be no benefit of the doubt. If you wanted Obama to side with you, simply trusting him and supporting him would not suffice. Distrust and pressure became requirements.
Strongly agree.
