Wednesday, April 25, 2012

FINALLY: Obama does the right thing

I cannot believe this. Obama has actually given us a reason to vote for him (and not just vote against Romney).
This is HUGE: President Obama just threatened to veto CISPA if it makes its way through Congress.
The White House says that any cybersecurity legislation must preserve "Americans' privacy, data confidentiality, and civil liberties and [recognize] the civilian nature of cyberspace." It says that, "The bill also lacks sufficient limitations on the sharing of personally identifiable information between private entities and does not contain adequate oversight or accountability measures necessary to ensure that the data is used only for appropriate purposes."
Is this a cold political calculation on Obama's part? Maybe, but I don't care. His veto threat is admirable, and we should applaud. Of course, Obama has done more caving than Tom Sawyer and Floyd Collins put together. That's why I would admonish you to send a message to the President telling him not to back down.

And please don't misunderstand: I'm not forgetting about any of this.

7 comments:

Lea said...

(at the risk of sounding like one of those trolls described in the last Cannonfire post...)

FISA. FISA. FISA. The ultimate rope-a-dope.

I'll believe the CISPA veto when I see it.

Joseph Cannon said...

Look, it's coming up for a vote. CISPA is important. We need to fight against it on all fronts.

Lea said...

You're right, of course, and now is the time to be pragmatic and not cut our nose off to spite our face...

And part of the difficulty is that I can not demonize the guy in the same way that I did Bush. Obama is smart and funny and smooooth--his latest video with Jimmy Fallon is funny and a brilliant way to connect with younger voters--I love seeing his family in the White House and admire Michelle Obama...

And yet: I abhor a whole lot of things he's done while in office--the drone war, his assaults on civil liberties, his compromises on taxation and health care and so forth and so on. I feel that I'm a sucker every time I think: this time Obama's going to do the right thing.

And I hate feeling that way.

Anonymous said...

This bill has the threat of stripping away any semblance of civil liberty and privacy. There's been a steady chipping away of citizen rights, while the press follows diversion and distraction at the expense of all of us. Hope the President follows through.

His track record ain't that good!

Peggysue

Sam Sneed said...

Y'all sound desperate. Neither Bush or Obama or Romney is the problem. It's who they work for, and it ain't you. All of the things that Obama has done that are no way near liberal or Democrat (because he's neither) is bullshit and deserving of condemnation just like Bushes bullshit deserved condemnation. My memory isn't fading. The response by Republicans to Bush's bullshit, was 'yeah, but he's cool, I could have a beer with him, he's not elitist', which is akin to Dems saying 'yeah, but Obama is cool, he can dance, sing...his family is cute'. Get it. Same shitty beer, but a different frat party. Obama threatening to do something is the same as Obama promising to do something. How f123ed up are things (and maybe people) that folks are still falling for or even giving that shizit any pub at all. No, you don't have to vote, support, or cheer tepidly for any of them. If Obama wins, he's a lame duck that can give even less of F1234 about what liberals or Dems support or want. Romney wins and you get to start all over, with libs and Dems feeling free to be outraged at him for continuing the same shizit that Obama is doing. He'll one up Obama on just about everything that Obama has one upped Bush on. Why? Because his bosses told him to, just like Bush and Obama. And like Bush and Obama, he wants to do what they say. What choice? Your vote, support, cheering means what? and by the way, F1234 Atrios.

CambridgeKnitter said...

I was just about to sign and then I read the White House letter. Maybe I'm misreading it, but it did not make me feel good at all. I like the veto part, but the rest of it . . . Should I sign anyway? Add a message about wanting my civil liberties back? I really do want some advice here.

Anonymous said...

I wonder what he wants to trade for this?

Harry