Obama Facing Backlash From Supporters Over FISA Stance

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Jul 9, 2008 2:20PM

Illinois Senator and presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama is facing new opposition over his recent decision to support Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) legislation, which goes before the Senate today. The surprising source of this new opposition? His own base. Obama had formerly supported amendments to the FISA legislation repealing retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies. It's the new bill's restoration of retroactive immunity that has Obama supporters up in arms. One of the largest groups on Senator Obama's social networking site is dedicated to swaying Obama on today's vote.

According to his official statement upon his recent decision to support the new legislation, Obama claimed, "It restores FISA and existing criminal wiretap statutes as the exclusive means to conduct surveillance - making it clear that the President cannot circumvent the law and disregard the civil liberties of the American people. It also firmly re-establishes basic judicial oversight over all domestic surveillance in the future."

The Senator also recently responded to his borderline-mutinous supporters and stands by his decision that the current legislation is still better than what has been previously offered.

This was not an easy call for me. I know that the FISA bill that passed the House is far from perfect. I wouldn't have drafted the legislation like this, and it does not resolve all of the concerns that we have about President Bush's abuse of executive power...But I also believe that the compromise bill is far better than the Protect America Act that I voted against last year. The exclusivity provision makes it clear to any President or telecommunications company that no law supersedes the authority of the FISA court.

Photo from Barack Obama's Flickr page