Ask Obama To Get FISA Right

I haven't blogged much about this, but the liberal netroots have been pushing (so far in vain) for Obama to vote against the upcoming FISA legislation. Basically, the new FISA bill gives retroactive immunity to telecom companies who spied on Americans illegally for President Bush.

Once you give immunity, you can't take it back. Senator Obama opposes the immunity, but it's an election year, and so he says he would vote for the bill even if he can't get the immunity provision repealed.

I'm hoping that Harry Reid slow-rolls the legislation so that it never comes to a vote. But if it does, you should push Obama to oppose it. I don't have high hopes, since I think Obama has various political reasons not to oppose anti-terrorist legislation during an election year, but it is still worth making your voice heard.

You can join an anti-FISA group at my.barackobama.com by going here.

You can also call the Senator's campaign to politely express your opposition to telecom immunity: (866) 675-2008.

Ultimately, I've decided that there is almost nothing Obama could do that would lessen my enthusiasm this year. We all learned that lesson the hard way in 2000. Al Gore wasn't exciting enough, he wasn't fresh enough, and so we didn't work our hearts out to get him elected. Ultimately, that enthusiasm gap allowed Bush to squeak by, and the country hasn't been the same since. We can't make that mistake this time. John McCain would be a disaster.

But it's still worth taking a stand against a bad Republican-written bill.