Help Us, Obama-Wan

Help us, Obama-wan. You're our only hope.

Image credit: screenshot by Cujo359 (See NOTE)

I've read several articles in the last couple of days hoping that Barack Obama will step up and nip this latest attempt to gut FISA in the bud. Like Princess Leia, they hope to inspire him to become a leader and stop this travesty. Some are hopeful, many sound resigned, but frankly, to me it's hardly worth bothering.

This is why I didn't support the guy in the first place.

There's no question that Obama, as the party's soon to be nominee, could stop this thing in its tracks if he wanted to. He'd just announce that it would happen over his cold, dead filibuster. Or he'd ask to put a hold on the bill. Even the dimmest majority leader, a category that probably includes Harry Reid, wouldn't risk an open fight with his party's presidential nominee. So if Obama had told Reid that the grotesquely-named "Protect America Act" was a non-starter, it would sit in committee until the end of the session.

But Obama won't do that. He made a living for a while as a constitutional lawyer. He knows how dangerous this act is. But Obama won't risk alienating Reid, whose help he might need later, nor some of the other opportunistic bastards who support the bill. Nothing lasts longer in politics than a grudge.

So Obama will vote against the bill, and maybe he'll even make a really inspiring speech about how wrong it is, but he won't put his foot down. I feel as safe in predicting this as I felt predicting that the Mariners wouldn't get anywhere near the post-season this year. As Jane Hamsher once wrote, we're led by moral pygmies. Nothing about that will change next year.

He won't risk a confrontation, even when he knows it needs to be done. His entire career has been built on avoiding risk. This is why I'm not going to go out of my way to support the man. There are too many good people who need all the support they can get to waste on someone who won't stand up.

If you want that to change, Senator, you know what you need to do tomorrow.

I'm pretty sure I'll see the Mariners in the World Series before I see you do something like that.

NOTE: Star Wars and its many sequels and prequels is a copyrighted work of Lucasfilms and a bunch of other folks. No one associated with this film endorses, supports, or is even aware of this article.

UPDATE: Christy Hardin Smith has another good article about the state of the FISA campaign - and it's been a campaign, folks. It's worth it just for the links. I'll pass along Sen. Russ Feingold's fact sheet on FISA.

UPDATE 2: The PAC Versus Retroactive Immunity is still accepting donations. If you haven't donated yet, please do. Small donations ($10, even $5) are welcome. This is a concrete way to show politicians that we mean business, in a language they understand.

UPDATE 3 (Jun. 25): Looks like "Mr. Present" lived up to his name today. He didn't vote on cloture, which passed easily. Now the Senate can get down the task of boning us once and for all.