Why We Worry

(Three Updates below)

In a scathing post yesterday, Glenn Greenwald accused MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann of carrying water for the Obama campaign. Greenwald says Olbermann abandoned his rhetoric on telecom immunity / warrantless domestic spying now that Obama supports it.

Here was Olbermann addressing Bush in January:

There is not a choice of protecting the telecoms from prosecution or protecting the people from terrorism, Sir. This is a choice of protecting the telecoms from prosecution or pretending to protect the people from terrorists. Sorry, Mr. Bush, the eavesdropping provisions of FISA have obviously had no impact on counter-terrorism, and there is no current or perceived terrorist threat the thwarting of which could hinge on an email or phone call that is going through Room 641 of AT&T in San Francisco.

And this was Olbermann Wednesday night:

Asked by “Rolling Stone” publisher, Jann Wenner, about how Democrats have cowered in the wake of past Republican attacks, Senator Obama responding, quote, “Yeah, I don’t do cowering.” That’s evident today in at least three issues . . . Senator Obama also refusing to cower even to the left on the subject of warrantless wiretapping. He’s planning to vote for the FISA compromise legislation, putting him at odds with members of his own party

… Not cowering to Republicans is one thing in the Democratic, recent Democratic history, it’s a thing that I think anybody who has a “D” near their name cheers, but not cowering to the left, not going along with the conventional, the new conventional thinking on the FISA bill, that’s something altogether different, isn’t it?

I think Greenwald is reading too much into what Olbermann said. It’s not altogether clear that Olbermann endorses the new FISA capitulation law. Noting that Obama is standing up to his colleagues is not the same thing as an endorsement of what he’s standing up for. In fact, earlier in the week he ran segments that were critical of the new FISA legislation.

On the other hand, Greenwald is completely right about Newsweek’s Jonathon Alter making a fool of himself. Here’s what Alter said to Olbermann on that same Wednesday night broadcast:

And I think some folks in the netroots in particular on this FISA bill who are, you know, pulling their hair out over this, they have to realize, [Obama has] always been a politician, he’ll always be a politician, and politics is the art of the possible. And he’s a legislator. He knows that you can’t always get everything that you want in a bill, even if he personally believes that the immunity for Telcoms is a bad idea. The larger idea of the bill was important.

And I actually think one of the big points, Keith, that hasn’t been made about this bill is that currently, as of last August, since last August, we’ve been operating in an unconstitutional environment, clear violation of the Fourth Amendment.

So, there was tremendous urgency to get the FISA court back into the game. And does this bill do it imperfectly? Yes. But it does do it and it restores the Constitution, which is a point that’s not getting made very much.

Now here Alter is definitely endorsing this bill, because it “restores the Constitution.” Huh? I doubt Alter could explain that one if he were pressed on it. And, yes, it’s disappointing that Olbermann didn’t ask him to clarify what he meant.

Update
OIbermann had more to say about Obama & Fisa on his last broadcast. I’ll try to post my revised thoughts later today.

Update II
Olbermann wrote a response to Greenwald which you can read at the Daily Kos… and Greenwald responds back. Isn’t this oh so fun?

Update III
What I wrote about Wednesday night’s Countdown broadcast still stands; I think Greenwald read too much into the exchange between Olbermann and Alter. Olbermann wasn’t yet supporting Obama’s capitalution on the FISA bill.

But the new evidence from Olbermann’s broadcast last night (after I wrote the above post) and his post on Kos vindicates Greenwald.  Olbermann has abandoned his hard line stance and is now “rationalizing Obama’s support for the bill.” I don’t have the transcript from last night, but what Olbermann said on Kos makes it clear enough:

But anybody who got as hot about this as I did would prefer to see a President Obama prosecuting the telecoms criminally, instead of seeing a Senator Obama engender more “soft on terror” crap by casting a token vote in favor of civil litigation that isn’t going to pass since so many other Democrats caved anyway.
[...]
Seriously, there is little in the polls to suggest McCain has anything to run with other than terror . . . . So why hand them a brick to hit him with — Obama Voted Against FISA — if voting Aye enhances his chances of getting himself his own Attorney General to prosecute FISA.

You’re wrong Keith. You don’t look strong by giving into the demands of the deeply unpopular Republican party and most unpopular President ever.

Flickr photo by 2757

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