“And going forward, some of you may decide that my FISA position is a deal breaker. That’s ok.” (Barack Obama in July 3 letter to anti-FISA supporters)
This not about hurt feelings or weak character or losing votes. It is about failure. It is about our joint project to change America. That is what Obama’s reversal on FISA will break.
So much has already been written about Obama’s compromise, and some of it is so smart. (I would start with Glen Greenwald’s columns in Salon.com and the wonderful June 26 column by M.S. Bellows, Jr. in the Huffington Post.) I want to make a small point here to emphasize the gravity of what is being broken.
What we want to change in America is a way of doing politics. We fought for Obama because we hope he can help us do that. The FISA legislation is a paradigm of what’s wrong with politics in this country. It is the openly defiant rejection of accountability by the government to the people. There is nothing subtle or duplicitous going on here. As Cheney’s lawyer David Addington has said, “We’re going to push and push and push until some larger force stops us.” The only question that matters is whether we can stop them, and it is a purely practical question: can we?
We look at our resources and look at our obstacles and realistically assess our prospects. The significance of Obama’s compromise is that it answers this practical question. No, we can’t. Without Obama’s help, we are not that larger force; we are not strong enough to change either the Democratic Party or the country. Breaking the deal is Obama saying, “The change you want is not on my agenda; I am not going to help you fundamentally change our politics.” And that is essentially what Obama’s letter says.
In case it is unclear to anybody, here is the letter’s crucial moment: “Given the choice between voting for an improved yet imperfect bill, and losing important surveillance tools, I've chosen to support the current compromise.” That “given the choice” is the problem. It implies that the Republicans get to give us the choice by saying, “We will sacrifice national security rather than allow accountability for our abuses of government power, so you choose,” and Democrats accept this choice without even making them walk the walk and pay the political price. Losing battles is a part of life, and we accept that. But having leaders who will not even attempt to fight for what is right is the unacceptable state of our politics.
Breaking the deal with us does not mean Obama disagrees with us so we’re peeved or disappointed and won’t vote for him. Almost all of us will vote for him anyway. Supreme Court appointments alone would be enough. Most of us will, as Michael Moore put it, “stagger into the voting booth come November, like a boxer in the 12th round, all bloodied and bruised with one eye swollen shut, looking for the only thing that matters – that big ‘D’ on the ballot.” But as Moore also says, “What we are witnessing is not just a candidate but a profound, massive public movement for change.” That movement is not about health care or court appointments or veterans’ benefits or even competent government. All those are important, but we could have gotten them with Hillary or many others. Obama The Movement is about democracy, integrity, and accountability – which, in the end, really are far more important – and this is the deal that Obama the candidate is breaking. The FISA bill politics is exactly what the Obama Movement is all about changing.
So, can we change our corrupt politics? A cold, hard look at our resources says no, not if Obama does not share our goals. We can and will make him president, but we cannot change the country in the ways that matter most. The deal will be broken on Tuesday.