Spying Activists Re-Up Pressure on Obama

He responded.

While most Americans settled into a relaxed Independence Day weekend, Barack Obama tried to quiet mounting criticism from supporters over his decision to back a new White House spying bill. In an unprecedented letter released on the afternoon of July 3rd, Obama addressed the thousands of supporters who organized a large spying protest on his social networking portal.

Noting that he expected to take his "lumps" and "be held accountable," Obama respectfully defended his surveillance reversal. While maintaining that immunizing companies accused of illegal spying undermines deterrence and "accountability for past abuses," Obama said he now backs legislation granting immunity (and other executive powers) because it provides a "real mechanism for accountability" via future investigations. The explanation ran 852 words -- more than double the length of his original statement announcing support for the spying bill on June 20 --
and then campaign policy aides continued the discussion for over an hour with visitors on Obama's site (pictured at right). The unusual exchange sparked an intense debate over the weekend, as activists and bloggers questioned whether it heralded a more interactive political era, or a reminder that doubletalk can spread on any medium.

On Sunday night, the spying protest group released its official reply, collaboratively edited through a wiki and representing some of the 19,000 members. It pressed Obama to take his fight against immunity to the Senate floor this week. Since Obama's letter said he still wanted to "strike" immunity from the bill, the group urged him to take charge:

We ask that you back up your words with action by addressing your constituents on the floor of the Senate with the same oratorical power you used in Philadelphia to lay out your vision of a "More Perfect Union." The American people have just as much right to know of the dangerous precedent this Congress would be setting by granting retroactive immunity to [companies that spied] on law-abiding citizens as we did to relearn of segregation and Jim Crow. The arm of government oppression reaches far and wide, Senator, and we must beat it back on whatever front we find it.

The Senate begins debating the spying bill again on Tuesday. Obama arrives in Washington that day to address a Hispanic convention.

The protest group has not only become a huge force on Obama's site -- it is now double the size of any other user-created group and its traffic slowed the campaign's server last week -- it has also swiftly asserted itself in the broader spying debate. Organizers have been covered and quoted repeatedly in the mainstream media, including a New York Times profile of founder Mike Stark, tapping the interest in online organizing to amplify a civil liberties message.

The group's wiki even includes a "proposed strategy" to "fan the flames of coverage by making the novel outreach approach a story in its own right," levering media attention to recruit more members for lobbying Congress. Over the weekend, it began spinning off local networks to target individual Senators through a "fifty state strategy." Now there are Facebook groups for constituents to pressure Senators McCain, Feinstein, Klobachar and Coleman and Alexander -- along with a page for "Wisconsinites" to "thank" Senator Feingold for defending civil liberties. The group decided to focus on other Senators after discussing how to broaden the effort beyond Obama. Over 3,500 members converse through an email listserve on the campaign's social networking platform, with hundreds of messages a day. In fact, the group has begun moderating participation to limit topics and exclude certain tactics, such as attempts by activists to halt campaign fundraising in retribution for Obama's position on spying.

By simultaneously increasing its membership, mission and ambition, the spying group exhibits the characteristics of a successful net movement. MoveOn began with the single objective of fighting Clinton's impeachment, but evolved to tackle other issues that resonated with its members. The spying protest began last month by urging Obama to change his vote. After quickly drawing him (and his senior staff) into a dialogue, however, it is nimbly shifting its focus to Obama's role in the immunity floor fight -- an easier request on common ground -- while launching campaigns to target Senators with constituents recruited through MyBo. Even if the Democratic Congress completes its capitulation on surveillance policy, the spying group will still be the largest organizing network on Obama's site. With 6,000 more activists than the top-down "Action Wire" group, which the campaign created for official pushback, the spying group might even function as supportive but aggressive counterweight to the campaign's traditional message. If Obama is not confronting McCain on other constitutional issues, for example, members could organize media or social network efforts to do it for him. If the campaign is not correcting the media for distorting factual statements by Gen. Clark, the members could rally a truth squad overnight.

Obama excelled by appealing to the public appetite for movement politics, rather than typical campaigns. And unlike campaigns, movements are animated by ideas, policies and values -- not blind allegiance to a single person. If Obama is lucky, he will continue to benefit from these energized, sophisticated activists who support his candidacy while they press his hand, and use his campaign platform to mobilize turnout while organizing causes beyond his election. The spy group's open letter reminded Obama of this collective dynamic. "As you have said time and again Senator, 'we are the ones we have been waiting for,' and we are here, working to bring about real change in Washington."

More: To hear opposing views on this topic, check out this debate I just did with the Heritage Foundation's Conn Carroll:

This piece originally appeared at The Nation.

Follow Ari Melber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AriMelber

Comments

[XME]

Here's a question...

If there are enough votes to pass this bill, with OR without Obama's vote, how can it be helpful for for Obama to vote against it to make his base happy, if it will pass anyway, AND if his vote against it will be used to accuse him of being soft on terrorism??

This election is neck and neck. Obama's lead is negligible, so at this point, either candidate could realistically be our next president. The ONLY issue McCain has a lead on, and it's a big one, is terrorism/foreign policy.

Unfortunately, you can't have everything you want, and I hate to say it, but with a race this close, a vote against this bill COULD cost him the election, and I rather have this bill and a President Obama, than have this bill anyway, but with a President McCain...or even without this bill...but it will almost definitely pass, regardless. The question is, are you willing to sacrifice a Democratic president just so you can say that Obama stood up to this bill and voted against it, even though it didn't stop it from passing and cost him the election? Is that worth electing John McCain our next president?

[tbone99]

The question is how good is Obama's word?He courted progressives with a filibuster of this bill, just like being against the war,Then once having gained the nomination he switched his stance. It begs the question , what else is he not really serious about representing us on?.When people lie to get a vote it indicates serious problems with integrity and breeds distrust.

[XME]

Right...like you were ever for him! Anyone who expects to find a candidate who's never changed positions, especially when transitioning from a primary to a general election is a person who will never find a candidate they're willing to vote for...which is why so many Americans just don't vote. I'll take Obama over McBush any day.

[abouttime]

What happened?
Mark Klein, an AT&T employee, whistle blower and witness in a lawsuit filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, alleges AT&T illegally gave the National Security Agency access to its networks.
Mark Klein stated in an interview on democracynow.org this morning (July 7) that: "in 2003 I was assigned to that office, and I got hold of the documents which were available—they're not classified—and the documents showed what they were doing. They were basically copying the entire data stream going across critical Internet cables and copying the entire data stream to this secret room, so the NSA was getting everything". Regarding Obama and Pelosi, Klein said that "the Democratic leadership is overriding the fights that Feingold and Dodd are trying to wage, and they're basically carrying out a secret agreement with the White House. Remember, there were never any open hearings on this. They met in secret with the telephone lobbyists and with intelligence agency officials. It was all a secret deal, a conspiracy against the American people. They never had hearings".
Sounds like the Chenney/Oil industry secret meetings that we the people were left out knowing or participating in.
Klein says the deal is a free pass for Bush. "I think it’s a pretty plain impeachable offense" and may have "the effect not only of giving immunity to the telephone companies, but it may also allow the administration to block legal accountability for this crime".
Change fascists applaud. I dissent.

[charmedgreenquark]

It's an Anti-Spying Activists/Group, not a spying group/activists.

[tucacas]

It is amazing how so many of you take light of our Constitution and the reasons most of us supported Obama and "YES WE CAN". There is no rational justification for supported immunity for the telcos.It does not make our country safer, it does nothing to fight terrorism, all it does do is prevent bush from vetoing the entire FISA bill, and once again letting him get away with whatever spying he did on the American people after 9/11. We did not fight for Obama to be just another politico we fought because he promised to be different and to protect The Constitution and the Bill Of Rights and to bring us back to what we have stood for, for hundreds of years before bush turned us into what we have now become. If we must pass a FISA law lets do it without immunity and let bush veto it and explain to the American people how he is protecting us against terrorism. There is no justification for any Dem to vote for immunity.

[TarryFaster]

In a five hour fit of anger and frustration, I dug up the names and contact information on the "Democratic" House & Senator traitors who voted to approve the latest version of the "Compromise FISA bill" -- which destroys our Fourth Amendment.  I put the two lists up on the Net as websites and will now go about "promoting" them.  Ideally, with your help, we could bring these sites to the attention of enough people to develop a viral network that could then gain critical mass among voters to remove these traitors.

Here are the sites: 

For House "Representatives": http://www.cloudbyte.com/traitors.html
For "Senators": http://www.cloudbyte.com/senatetraitors.html

[in10se]

Let me get this straight,,,, you want to remove from office some of the most experienced and senior members of Congress who chair the most powerful committees. You want to replace them with what? State legislators, school board members and city council members who have no experience in national and world policy making?

That is an invitation to really turn the country over to lobbists.

[JBS]

Be a little easier to use if you sorted them by State & District.

[tbone99]

Great job - links are great and informative.

(You have Mccain listed among Dem senators)I­nteresting that many supporters are senoir and supposedly progressive( Kennedy, Webb, Bayh, McCaskille)

[tbone99]

You might want to include the price for which the votes were bought

http://www.maplight.org/FISA_June08

[BassMent]

I continue to be fascinated by the focus on the telecom immunity component of the FISA bill. It's unlikely that any of the plaintiffs against telecom companies in the extant lawsuits are going to win, because there's a necessity to prove intent in these cases that is often extremely difficult. The telecoms are unlikely to suffer much in the wake of these lawsuits (and btw, how come everyone is so ginned up to see the telecoms suffer?).

I guess if the immunity issue stalls the bill and leads to further debate in the senate that's a good thing. I just hope in the course of the debate that someone brings up the real problem with the FISA bill, that it gives the executive branch unlimited power conduct espionage on electronic communications of American citizens without a warrant. This bill basically gives the president the power to suspend the Fourth Amendment whenever he pleases without any accountability whatsoever.

Hell, I'd give the telecoms their immunity. Just please don't throw out the Constitution. It's a pretty important document....

[BillForObama]

BassMent, I definitely agree with you!!!

AdvanatageObama 08!!!

[PumaJ]

I have said this before, and I will keep saying it until this issue is resolved: It is my contention that the focus on the telecom immunity and thus on this FISA bill "compromise" is a "red herring" in Obama's campaign. So, BassMent, I tend to agree with your post.

I have also raised the issue of the possibility of there being "agents provocateurs" involved in the stirring up of this pot. The amount of ruckus being raised is just too "coincidental" to other issues being raised about Obama leaning toward center, or even to the right.

I understand that he has previously stated that he would filibuster any bill that included telecom immunity. However, me thinks that there is more going on here than meets the eye of those of us not really involved in his decision making.

As for our constitution being trashed as the result of this new bill, oh please.... the Fourth Amendment got trashed by the Patriot Act. It is that act that needs our attention.

[eniobob]

I am an Obama supporter,but I'm tired of him being "a sheep in wolfs clothing" lately.

[3Gs]

I think it would be more accurate to say he resembles 'dolphin in a shark suit', as sheep are seriously stupid animals. I get your meaning, but I think you suffer from the same post primary hangover that so many are experiencing. Obama was never about radical leftist ideology, but about a rational, balanced fairness that reaks of honesty, integrity, and intelligence. He will fight the telecom immunity, and probably put in his two cents on the frightening implications of giving the executive branch so much authority, but he is presently overwhelmed by a Congress filled with 'business as usual' politicians. He is by all rights out gunned by the sheer force of numbers.

[Totto]

Jeez, finally. A semblance of sanity in an insane world.

[MoeB]

This may be a sidebar, but I must say that I am happy with the fact that people are mobile and ORGANIZING this election. It makes me proud of where american politics is heading. I just made a post not too long ago on ANOTHER FISA story on this site (it's like 10 a day now or something), but I must say, while I think that some of these activists are turning this into a one issue campaign, I do like the fact that people can organize AGAINST Obama on his OWN website. I know people may want to continue their outrage, but I think that's pretty cool.

Obama '08

[Titonwan]

ARIANNA IS A GODDESS! I cry tears of joy for this article, Ari! ONLY here are you going to read the TRUTH! The MSM won't touch this with a ten foot pole. I bet Bush, Cheney, Rice, Pelosi, Hoyer, Rockefeller and Reid are sweating bullets!!! If this catches and Vincent Bugliosi's book (The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder) takes off- it's OVER! We the People can finally show the world that there is JUSTICE in the good ol' US of A!!! My profuse thanks to you Ari! You are definitely NOT an apologist! Sic em RUSS! Sic em CHRIS! Sic em BARACK!

[tegrat]

Why is Obama caving? Certainly no one in his "base" will complain if he upholds his promise to not grant retroactive immunity, so why move to the "center" (there really is no such thing) on this issue and risk being called a flip-flopper? Someone needs to follow the money...

[riley85]

Follow the money right to the huge telecom companies. Not illegal money directly from the company but from family members, exlobby, lawyers,etc.who support Obama. It's always about money.

[WAstateliberal]

Because Telco immunity is attached to FISA, and he supports FISA (as do most in the Senate and House) and feels it must be renewed before August. Legislation always has other things, beyond the main thing you are voting for, in it. That's how it works. The Republicans are masters of this. They attach anti-Democratic things to a good bill in order to force Democrats into a no-win situation. That's how its done. FISA and Telco immunity are going to be in the same bill, period. And in order to vote for FISA, he will have to vote for Telco immunity. And if he doesn't vote for FISA, and we have an October surprise? Goodbye White House.

[bgregs]

That last line is NOT true! People seem to think that the republicans are still the party of strong national defense, but if there is (GOD FORBID!!) another attack between now and the election the people will see just HOW INEPT the bush admin is at dealing with stuff like that! We were too shocked by 9/11 to notice, but with his support at less than 30%, and having been that low for the last 3 years......

[jackie4444]

You would do well to read Glenn Greenwald's response to Obama's recent statement
over at salon.com. Greenwald is very much what some of us who share the professional world that he and Obama inhabit DEARLY WISH THAT OBAMA HAD PROVEN HIMSELF TO BE.

Very clear breakdown, addressing Obama's statement statement-­by-stateme­nt. What's dubious, what's wrong, and what's knowingly misleading. FISA has been around 30 years and is going nowhere. Nothing changes if the amendments, which provide for greater spying - not less - are not adopted, or even addressed. What expires in August are provisions of the Protect America Act, another piece of Bush 'gimme' legislation which a year ago Obama voted against as being a terrible infringement on the 4th Amendment when that suited his political purposes. Now he's using the same legislation - terrible in 2007, wonderful in 2008 - as an excuse
for pushing FISA through over the objections of his supporters

There can be another 'october surprise' whenever the military/industrial establishment
decides its time to have one to tamp down citizen boldness. Obama's falldown on FISA will change nothing on that score. But once FISA is passed, we have taken from our
children and grandchildren something which will not be willingly given back in the
future.

[tbone99]

Could it be the ten million the communications and electronics industry donated to his presidential campaign?.He leads all candidates in money from them.

[AdamND]

Yea it seems that MSNBC today is trying to push the story that Obama is losing his base.

[PATina]

I'm glad to see how well this Anti-FISA group is working. It does more to prove that Barack Obama is the man he portrayed in his books and during the primary... than the "whatever you do O is okay by me" crowd. He touts being an organizer... someone who can mobilize people to act on a beleif or circumstance that's important to them. He's done just that w/ this site. I just wish he'd stand up to his own word and vote no. Even if the bill passes w/o his vote... he still has his integrity... not to mention he makes an example of what a REAL politician looks like. We all know that the Republicans think we should just shut up and let them run the show... O bama can show us that he is really different in that he listens to those who vote for him. Also... I can't figure out what he thinks he'll gain by joining ranks w/ the spineless Dems like Reid, Pelosi and the rest of the "we are too afraid to fight the Republican" crowd.

[Relax08]

But what if he really really doesn't think that is the right thing to do? Why is it that people who want someone to unite us all can't get it through their heads that Obama still needs to do what he thinks is right. I'm sadden that people will not let this go. Even if he was wrong in announcing his support for this bill- one which I would have supported- it's simply too damaging for him to change his position now. His only real vulnerability in this election is the false perception that he is a radical left winger who jumps to the tune of Moveon and the far left. He's not, and while this is not a "far left" issue, it would be way to damaging to now change his position.

Further, as someone fairly well versed in the law, anyone that thinks that any of these Telecon's were going to suffer any great injury from the lawsuits or from criminal prosecution is simply naive. So in the end, this is a matter of one principal out of thousands. Do you really want to sacrifice all of those thousands of other principals that are supported by the election of Obama in order to save this one principal of questionable value?

[tbone99]

Why did he think it was right in Feb and not in July?

[WAstateliberal]

Since you acknowledge the bill will pass irrespective of his vote, then why does his vote matter so much?

If it wasn't apparent before, it should be clear now that the MSM is working 24/7 to defeat Obama. The MSM always picks their winner and loser, and the loser gets called a flip flopper, which is what they are now calling Obama on public financing (which he isn't) and Iraq (which he isn't) and abortion (which he isn't). So does it help that the netroots is now joining the MSM party and crucifying him over this? No. It's just blood in the water for the Republicans and their MSM.

[edwarvir]

cynara that's a bunch of bull why didn't they do all of this with Bush.

He has enough on his plate they should leave him alone.

[truegreen]

What more do these activist want? They got Obama to semi-cave. He's agreed to vote with Dodd, Feingold and other on the immunity bill. I mean, my fellow progressives are grasping @ straws.

[racom]

What we Americans want is for Obama to protect our constitution and civil liberties. It is not just activist agenda, it is the agenda for all. The steady erosion of our rights under the totalitarian administration of bush has to be corrected not enhanced. That is what we want!

[Relax08]

Then let him become President where he can really do that? You aren't going to stop the steady erosion of rights by electing McBush are you? Think about how selfish this really is.

[WAstateliberal]

Then talk to the other 80+ Senators, NOT JUST OBAMA!!!!! Jeezuz C rist, he's a man, not God. He is not in a position to stop this just because he is the party's nominee. If you think he can just wave a wand and everyone will fall in line you're nuts.

Every minute we spend on this site attacking Obama should be matched with a minute attacking every other Senator, including McCain, who plans to vote yes.

But no, we are too busy attacking the one guy who has the most to lose by voting no and demanding perfection from him. And he may very well lose because of it.

[phyllip]

I have to agree with you truegreen. What more do they want? They are going to mess around and McCain will win this election, then they can go cry in the corner and the only one they can blog about will be McCain's white house. I sure hope this dont happen.

[macknn]

back your words b/o