Been lots of diaries here about people's disappointment, sense of betrayal, complete outrage with or justification for Obama because of his statement regarding the House-passed FISA bill.
My suggestion is that we stop complaining or arguing with each other and do something.
So, after the jump are a couple of things I know about that we can do: one that's better for those who are merely disappointed, and another for those who feel betrayed. (I don't have anything for those who are completely outraged or those who feel that Obama was justified).
I'm hoping that many of you will know of other actions we can take and will put them in comments to this diary.
On the side of disappointment we have a campaign Moveon.org is running to get people to call the Obama campaign and tell them we want Obama to keep his promises regarding FISA.
Ironically, this is the day Moveon.org is running bake sales to raise money for Obama. I just sent off 2 1/2 dozen brownies to one of the bake sales, but I admit to just a little bit less enthusiasm than I felt a couple of days ago. Still, I'm not one of the -- "if he does this, I'm going with Ron Paul or Nader" crew. I still think Obama is the best we've got and far better than most. But we need to keep the pressure on him and not let him slide into the over-compromising politician's mudbath.
So for those of you, like me, who are disappointed but still strong Obama supporters, here's the moveon.org link for calling the Obama campaign and then notifying moveon about your call (they're tracking the calls):
http://pol.moveon.org/...
On the sense of betrayal side, we have Glenn Greenwald who is spearheading (with the ACLU and at least one conservative group, I believe) an effort to run ads in the districts of Steny Hoyer, Chris Carney and John Barrow:
As a result, our campaign will be unveiled in two phases, with Phase I to entail an immediate ad campaign aimed at three key Democratic enablers of this bill -- Hoyer, Chris Carney, and Blue Dog Rep. John Barrow of Georgia. The reasons for targeting Hoyer are self-evident and were set forth yesterday, and the campaign against Carney -- who has long been one of the Blue Dogs spearheading the effort behind this bill -- is already underway and will continue.
Rep. John Barrow was, like Carney, one of the 21 Blue Dogs who signed the letter to Nancy Pelosi back in March demanding that they be allowed to vote on the Rockefeller/Cheney Senate bill. In July, Barrow faces a very credible primary challenger -- Georgia State House Rep. Regina Thomas -- who is much more in step with the district's Democratic base.
You can read more about it here:
http://www.salon.com/...
you can contribute $ here:http://www.actblue.com/...
And one more suggestion from Greenwald:
Making matters worse still, what Obama did yesterday is in clear tension with an emphatic promise that he made just months ago. As the extremely pro-Obama MoveOn.org notes today, Obama's spokesman, Bill Burton, back in in September, vowed that Obama would "support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies." MoveOn believes Obama should be held to his word and is thus conducting a campaign urging Obama to do what he promised -- support a filibuster to stop the enactment of telecom amnesty. You can email Burton here to demand that Obama comply with his commitment not just to vote against, but to filibuster, telecom amnesty:
bburton@barackobama.com
Finally -- we should think of Obama's statement about FISA as a wake-up call -- you know, that "the price of liberty is eternal vigilence" bit. No matter who our candidate is and how much we respect or even love him/her, we shouldn't ever put all our eggs in one basket.
The Obama campaign has been calling for all donations for his election to come through his campaign rather than going to other, independent political groups. I strongly disagree with that -- these groups are needed to keep pressure on our candidates and elected officials, even the very good ones, to adhere to progressive principles and to stand their ground against the right wing. I've recently given money to a few different groups, including moveon.org, and will keep doing so.