Obama confounds civil libertarians

| 23 June 2008 11:09

Count me in the crowd of Civil Libertarians who are perplexed by Barack Obama’s move to the center and rejection of basic civil liberties. He has come out in favor of a bill on wiretapping proposed by the Bush Administration that gives telephone companies retroactive immunity.

I’ll be watching Obama’s stances much more closely. This is a worrying trend.

“Under this compromise legislation, an important tool in the fight against terrorism will continue, but the president’s illegal program of warrant-less surveillance will be over,” Obama said after the House passed the proposal.

Yet several senior Democrats starkly differ with Obama’s positive assessment of the wiretaps deal, which the Senate is slated to take up this week.

Three liberal senators allied with Obama – Patrick Leahy, Russell Feingold, and Chris Dodd – already have condemned the bill for its immunity grant to telecom corporations as well as other controversial provisions.

-The Guardian, 23 Jun 2008

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avatar About Edward Harrison

Edward Harrison is the founder of Credit Writedowns and a former career diplomat, investment banker and technology executive with over twenty years of business experience. He is also a regular economic and financial commentator on BBC World News, CNBC Television, Business News Network, CBC, Fox Television and RT Television. He speaks six languages, a skill he uses to provide a more global perspective. Edward holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia University and a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College.

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