Weep for the Constitution

This one is deeply disappointing.

First, a correction to an earlier post: The Senate didn't pass the FISA renewal bill until this past Tuesday. I got my signals crossed on the earlier post.

The disappointment is that Obama voted for the bloody thing. This posting contains an appropriate image: Bush with a thumbs-up saying, "Thanks Barack" and the Obama logo with his circular sunrise replaced with the AT&T globe. The vote (which Bush quickly praised and will hastily sign) raises some questions:

Why did the Democratic House and Senate cave into Mr. 23% approval? Did Obama vote for it because he wants the same powers to order the private sector to spy on us without accountability once he is in office? If the justification is "We need to win the election," how does this promote his claim to change? Why would we want to give immunity to Telecoms even before we find out what the immunity is for? Can Obama seriously claim that we can still go after the Telecoms in criminal court when Bush can grant them last day pardons?

Obama gathered crowds because he projected himself as a leader who had principles and courage, who would put our freedoms first. Suddenly, he is playing not to lose. He got spooked by Dukakis in the tank, Kerry on the surfboard. He's afraid of the ads that say he refuses to listen in on terrorists and wants to shut down churches because people think he's a Muslim. But he set himself up for the charge of flip-flopping that helped destroy Kerry.

Bush has been able to hold our troops and our country hostage. Don't give him money for Iraq and he'll let the troops go hungry in the field. Don't give him Telecom immunity and he won't do any terrorist surveillance and blame it on the Dems. And the reason he can is because Pelosi took impeachment off the table.

Here's a final twist Bush could give the Dems as he walks out the door: They approved a Constitutional breach back in 2002 (this was an early FISA vote). This recent vote was to cover their exposure. Bush could grant pardons to his GOP buddies and any criminal offenses the Telecoms did -- and that leaves only Democrat leadership to take any legal responsibility for spying on Americans.

Makes me wish Hillary was still around so I could vote for her. She voted against this disaster. She was hoodwinked into voting for Iraq. Obama appears to know exactly what he was doing in this case and voted for it anyway. It makes one weep for the Constitution. Even with this blemish on his record, Obama is still way better than McCain.

But the gap between them just got narrower.