Amid our anger at Pelosi and Hoyer, most of us are dissappointed at the lack of leadership shown during the FISA mess by our Presidential nominee, Barack Obama. As others have pointed out, this bill could not have passed the House, could not even have come to the floor, without Obama's tacit approval.
Given the clear nonsense spouted by Pelosi and others in support of this travesty, one wonders what led these intelligent people to work so hard to make such a blunder, and why a presidential candidate believed to be "transcendent" by his supporters (me included), would go along with it.
The first and obvious reason is money. Bribery is sadly legal when it takes the form of campaign contributions to elected officials, and the telecoms have spent a bundle on legislation that could not get thru a Republican Congress when it was first proposed in 2006.
But money is not the only reason. Sadly, the primary motivator is that top Dems are complicit in the lawbreaking they now seek to immunize. That's what has them running scared.
According to Constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley, from a recent appearance on MSNBC's Countdown:
[T]here is an obvious level of collusion here. We now know the Democratic leadership knew about the illegal surveillance program almost from its inception. Even when they were campaigning about fighting for civil liberties, they were aware of an unlawful survellance program . . . .
Ever since that came out, the Democrats have been silently trying to kill any effort to hold anyone accountable, because that list could very well include some of their own members. [T]his is Washington politics at the worst.
Lord Acton wrote his famous words "Power tends to corrupt" in 1887. A modern corollary is this: The primary goal of power is covering its ass. That is what Pelosi, Hoyer, and the rest of the miscreants are doing.
Getting back to Obama, one can imagine the conversation. Nancy and Steny say, "Look, Barack, unless you want the two most powerful Democrats in the House facing jail in your first term--and of course, there's not the first chance in hell of us doing the right thing and resigning in the disgrace we so richly deserve--you have to let this bill pass."
I believe Barack Obama will make a fine President, but we must never forget he is still "just" a politician. Deals are the coin of the realm, and he felt he had to make this one. Obama may well be transcendent, but even transcendence has its limits.