Hmm...President Obama's speech on the NSA

[OCinBuffalo]

Based on a fairly decent look around the web, TV, youtube etc.....it seems that the general take is: security hawks were generally OK with it, while the liberty folks generally despised it.

 

However, here's the other thing: the leftist "anti"-war crowd really hated it. I mean, the same usually suspects who are always so sagacious about war in general(while never having served in the military, and never having been anywhere near a war), really feel like they have been betrayed.

 

I think this is hilarious.

 

Here's why: if this was 5 years ago, Senator Obama would have been saying the same things about the NSA, he, and he rest of the left, especially the wingnuts here, have always been saying....had he lost, and McCain won. You know the script, so it's not worth mentioning.

 

But here's the reality: President Obama, whether he likes it or not, has had to spend at least an hour a day, if not more, dealing with the world...as it truly is, in a military context. Consider that for a second. What's the difference between the left, and Obama right now? He must sit and listen to the intelligence reports, and military assessments. The average liberal chatterer spends 0 time on this.

 

I wonder....is the reality Obama has had to face every day...not a prescription for a disease?

 

The biggest tone thing I took away from the reactions yesterday? Obama has lost his base on this NSA thing, almost completely. They may be talking him through this, but they are doing so through clenched teeth.

 

Obama has had to live through reality...they remain...in delusion. So, is it any wonder that he's "changed" according to them? I mean technically you could make the same case for what would happen if Rand Paul was suddenly POTUS. Perhaps you'd see the same thing?

[Nanker]

Oh, the Left is fine with the NSA doing what its doing - as long as there's a Dem in the WhiteHouse.

Once a Repub is in residence again, it'll be a HUGE issue... just like unemployment, homelessness, and the national debt.

 

After all, look at the benefits that this snooping has produced. They stopped the Boston Marathon bomber brothers before they could execute their plot, Nidah Hasan from killing 13 people at Ft. Hood, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab - AKA the "Underwear Bomber" from getting on that plane with his Fruit-of-the-Looms packed with C-4, and half a dozen school shootings by whack jobs with more bullets than IQ points. Wait... oops, my bad. Well, perhaps they would have if they just had a bit more leeway in finding out exactly what everyone is up to.

 

Methinks they should start with the radical Muslims, e.g., Wahhabites, and the regular psychos if they want results. But that would be prejudicial, bigoted, mean-spirited, non-compassionate, hateful, short-sighted, xenophobic, paranoid, and simply not progressive.

 

So lets put our trust in B. O. he's never lied to us yet. What have we got to lose, and at this point, what difference does it make?

[Keukasmallies]

Is there any truth to the rumor that POTUS is considering ebay as the off-site intelligence storage location?

[B-Man]

 

What Was the Point of Obama’s NSA Speech?

 

President Obama’s speech on NSA reform had all the hallmarks of his administration—and, not coincidentally, of his hyper-analytical, aloof, and cerebral personality.

 

The endless, quasi-public policy review? Check. Lengthy consultations with a vast variety of experts? Check. (“I’ve listened to foreign partners, privacy advocates, and industry leaders. My administration has spent countless hours considering how to approach intelligence in this era of diffuse threats and technological revolution.”) The rhetorical genuflections to appear fair to both sides. (“Throughout American history, intelligence has helped secure our country and our freedoms…. [but] even the United States proved not to be immune to the abuse of surveillance.”)

 

And, finally, the laboriously fashioned compromise designed to satisfy everyone, which will actually please no one, with policy proposals of exquisite if sometimes baffling nuance.

 

This is a pattern we have previously seen, inter alia, with regard to Middle East policy (think of the Cairo speech), Afghanistan, drones, and Guantanamo Bay. Now with the NSA.

 

Obama, thankfully, declined an opportunity, as advocated by some of his most fervent supporters (who want to see Edward Snowden canonized rather than crucified), to cripple the NSA’s intelligence collection. Instead he is calling for a series of smaller steps that will merely impede the NSA’s activities a bit—or perhaps a lot. It’s hard to tell from the rather vague plans he outlined which will require considerable Congressional action, which may or may not be forthcoming.

[Koko78]

Is there any truth to the rumor that POTUS is considering ebay as the off-site intelligence storage location?

 

My guess would be Target's servers.

[KD in CA]

However, here's the other thing: the leftist "anti"-war crowd really hated it. I mean, the same usually suspects who are always so sagacious about war in general(while never having served in the military, and never having been anywhere near a war), really feel like they have been betrayed.

 

And presumably they're blaming 'Republicans in Congress'.

[Tiberius]

I dont think the public really even cares about this that much

[Rob's House]

I dont think the public really even cares about this that much

 

Not since those who "inform" the public got their guy in the WH.

 

It reminds me of a lib actor turned quasi-conservative post 9-11 named Ron Silver. He said he and one of his anti-war peacenik Hollywood buddies were at Clinton's inauguration when they flew fighter planes over the proceeding. Ron turned to his friend irritated by the symbolism of these military planes. His friend told him "those are our planes now."

[DC Tom]

From the Salt Lake City Trib: "The changes, which will need congressional approval, are not expected to affect the NSA’s Utah Data Center."

 

That right there should tell you all you need to know about what's changing.

[Azalin]

the only thing that's going to change with the NSA data collections is improved efficiency in gathering it, refined methods of sorting through it, and increased selectivity in who has access to the information. the fact that left and right aren't outraged to the point of solidarity on the issue is an indication of how pathetically partisan people have become.

[OCinBuffalo]

As far as what's changing?

 

 

Does anybody think we are going to broadcast our tactics/capabilities to the media(and therefore, the enemy), whatever they end up being?

[3rdnlng]

As far as what's changing?

 

 

Does anybody think we are going to broadcast our tactics/capabilities to the media(and therefore, the enemy), whatever they end up being?

 

Only if it helps certain parties politically.

[OCinBuffalo]

Only if it helps certain parties politically.

Look, I get it, but, really?

 

Once "the changes" are made, sooner or later...somebody is going to be assigned the actual job of building "the system".

 

That somebody isn't going to tell a soul how they did it, unless they want to go to Federal "pound me in the ass" prison. And, they will only build part of it, or, they will build a "system" that isn't really the system. They will build something that, once delivered, gets hacked to pieces and re-engineered into something else(what we suspected happened to our work, when I did my Navy job, because most of their requirements/interfaces made no sense at all, but that was the spec...).

 

The users of "the system", aren't even likely to tell each other how they use it, never mind an outsider. This is basic compartmentalization.

 

Thus, nobody is going to know the whole story, except a very few, and they have 0 reason to tell anybody anything. And, if they are compelled they can invoke national security, and "sources and methods" which is legally protected. They don't have to tell you, or Congress anything, by law, unless Congress/a court can produce somebody that has been "aggrieved".

 

Nobody knows when they've been aggrieved by a secret system that tracks them, unless "the system" sucks balls, so...this goes nowhere.

 

So...again, I ask: what's changing? And, even if there is something changing, who is actually going to know about it?

Edited January 20, 2014 by OCinBuffalo

[Nanker]

Look. Give the man a break. His marriage is on the rocks. He hasn't had time for hoops in days, and he's waxing philosophical on how he wouldn't let his son play in the NFL. He's an idiot Affirmative Action quota hire of the first magnitude and will be singlehandedly responsible for the renaming of The Peter Principle as The Obama Principle.