I’ve been watching (and listening) with curiosity as the “liberal media” “processes” the news that a “leaker” has spilled the beans on the NSA’s (National Security Agency’s) secret spying (with compliance from the major communications corporations) that’s been presumably going on under “Obama’s watch.”  Here’s the rub for me; if you check my archives (and, I’m not going to look up all the times I’ve written about this) we shouldn’t have needed a “leaker” to point this sad reality out to all of us (meaning “we the people”) – I’ve been writing about the abuses of the original FISA law since the “dog days” of the GW Bush/Cheney regime when the abuses of the 4th amendment went all “Nixon” on  us (again).  I’m just a 6th grade school teacher – if I was able to put two plus two together, why is this such a surprise to so many Americans?  And, I’ve (even though I’m one of those strange Americans who want our president to succeed) not been too gracious to President Obama on all of this.  If you check, you’ll see that I actually wrote him back in 2008 when he was still a US Senator and he committed one of his first “red flag” events by voting for the FISA bill which, for all intents and purposes, gave corporations like Verizon, AT&T, etc. exoneration for succumbing to government pressure which led to illegal surveillance without the benefit of a warrant.

Obama, in a response to my letter to his campaign complaining about his vote, (OK, I know the response didn’t come directly from him) assured me that once in office he would “fix” the FISA bill.  As he’s done nothing of the sort, it didn’t take a lot of logic to figure out the reason he wasn’t eager to “fix” this rotten bill was because he was doing the same thing (probably, at this point, more-so) that Bush/Cheney were doing.  And, anyone who thinks he’s not aware of what’s been going on, well, I’ve “got a bridge I’d like to sell you.”  This is kind of like “we don’t torture” – yet we have Bradley Manning sitting in solitary confinement in clearly “torture” conditions for almost a year (or more) – right in front of everyone’s noses, yet the only push-back comes from a few internet “watch dogs” who are not part of that “liberal media” I so often refer to.  You know, like Fox “news” (GOP TV), CNN, ABC, CBS (the outfit that fired Dan Rather in a classic case of the “liberal media” being intimidated by the conservatives who run it) etc.  Now there’s congressional leaders calling for the guy who did the leaking (Edward Snowden) to be extradited from China (or wherever he chose to seek asylum from America’s “anti-leaking” police).

My response to these congressional thugs is “huh?”  The guy just told the truth.  If this isn’t a problem, then why all the secrecy?  I’ll tell you why all the secrecy – it’s because this “data mining” is very likely a violation of the fourth amendment to the constitution.  All these “important” officials who believe that our “safety” is contingent on throwing our constitution “under the bus” are, to me, short sighted dimwits.   I mentioned this in a previous post (again, I can’t remember which one – I’m getting up there in years) that our “leaders” are totally doing what Osama bin Laden hoped they would do when he orchestrated the 9/11 attacks on America.  Those who “rule the roost” in Washington DC have been operating via the fear factor ever since that fateful day.  And, this will continue until “we the people” put a stop to it – through the ballot box.  Now, I’ve got plenty of disappointment in President Obama, but I’ll just throw out AGAIN, for anyone paying attention, that I believe step number one in “taking back our country” as the Washington politicians like to put it to us, is purging Washington DC of EVERY republican who is walking in lockstep to lead our nation to failure under President Obama.

I have no problem with their disagreeing with Obama’s philosophy of government.  What really is annoying (actually, I should come up with a more severe word there) is their obstructionism that has caused Washington to be in TOTAL gridlock since the day Obama was elected.  Even what legislation does get through is substandard because of all the hoops that have to be gone through to get ANYTHING passed.  This is while our nation is in a virtual depression that is the result of corporate and Wall Street excesses initiated during the years of Bush/Cheney (OK, and prior).  The tax cuts, the deregulation (much of that damage done in the Clinton presidency – ie repeal of Glass Steagall, Telecommunications Act of 1996, NAFTA, GATT), the unfunded (and illegal) wars, the TARP bailouts, etc. all put America “behind the eight ball” when Obama was originally elected.  The obstruction since then has been unconscionable.  However, to me, that does not excuse the Obama administration for the illegal wiretapping, the torturing that’s continued (Guantanamo is still alive and well), and the secrecy surrounding an administration that CLEARLY PROMISED transparency in their original campaign.

Do you remember when guys like me originally started to question the “path” of President Obama?  Do you remember Rahm Emanuel?  He called “liberals” “f—ing retards.”  With little to no backlash from the president that I remember.  The problem that they don’t seem to understand is that it’s the LIBERALS who got them elected into office!  One of the many dangerous precedents President Obama may be committing is patronizing liberals to get elected and then abandoning them once the election is over.  Now, I realize that is somewhat a bit of a “reach” because President Obama is FAR BETTER than the alternative.  But starting his second term with a proposal to “cut” Social Security and Medicare (to even put them “on the table”) and now to be defending the NSA’s “data mining” – Obama seems to think they’re not really doing this (based on part of an interview I heard him give) – is not the way to mobilize “liberals” for the 2014 election which is President Obama’s only hope for “getting things done” during his second term.  I can guarantee you that there’s no way for the democrats to take back the house without strong support from liberals.  And, I’ve seen this many times before, liberals will “sit out the election” if they don’t believe the president is going to FIGHT for the issues that matter to them.

So, what can be done to “move things forward?”  Well, in my mind – even though it’s getting dangerously late to do this, President Obama needs to lead a strong fight to STRENGTHEN Social Security and Medicare (and Medicaid), re-institute the need for the “public option” in regards to the roll out of “Obamacare,” FIGHT for a major “jobs bill” that addresses the needs of America’s crumbling infrastructure, make a major push for relief to America’s inner cities and the high unemployment there, get our troops out of Afghanistan and CUT the defense budget, make a concerted effort for education reform (without trying to destroy public education), break up the “too big to fail” Wall Street conglomerates (re-institute Glass Steagall), PUSH for accelerated advances in alternative energy, and I could go on.  Essentially, Obama should take a FDR (or was it really Eleanor Roosevelt who instigated the New Deal? – I’m reading a biography of her right now and we need another ER) approach to his last 3 1/2 years as president.  The right wing corporatists who are fighting him now are descendents of the same people who fought FDR (If you remember his famous quote, “I welcome their hate”) during the implementation of the New Deal and Obama needs that same attitude toward them.  Unfortunately, from where I sit, it has appeared that our president has been constantly “reaching out” to them, and the sad reality is there’s NO CHANCE they are going to agree to anything “progressive” while President Obama is in office.

Oh yes!  One last thing.  In 1996 Bill Clinton signed the aforementioned Telecommunications Act of 1996 which has allowed the takeover of America’s media by a few right wing corporations.  That particular “Act” needs to be repealed.  It is unthinkable to me that people like Rupert Murdoch and the Koch Brothers can gain a stranglehold on the print and broadcast media because of their great wealth.  This is exactly what the “founders” were trying to prevent when they came up with the system of “checks and balances.”  This, along with the suggestions mentioned above, to name a few things that would ignite liberals, would be the way for our president to have a FIGHTING chance to get that democratic congress he needs to be able to enact any of these “progressive” initiatives.  The “status quo” is not what people like me expected when President Obama took office.  We’re chomping at the bit to FIGHT for the values we believe made this nation great, and there’s a LOT of work to be done, but I don’t see cutting Social Security and Medicare and now, being exposed as a “data miner,” as the way to create a “catalyst” for “the change we can believe in.”  I’ll end by saying, if the “surveillance” being done by the NSA is legal, then why on earth all the secrecy?  They don’t have to tell me who they’re surveilling, they just need to be up front about doing it!