The Post-Obama age is here, but the state and national GOP have not noticed
The NSA scandal ushered in the Post-Obama age. This is the age in which the critical mass that elected Obama twice has evaporated. It’s been a long time coming. President Obama made it clear over time that he was not really an agent of change, but had in fact used his rhetorical skills and the historical accident of his race, as well as the foil of the Bush years, to project an intense charisma that had no relation to actual struggle in the policy arena. The liberal mind was entranced and mesmerized, only to see Obama shrink from all the big battles: climate change, the environment, the economy, guncontrol, foreign policy, the war on drugs- you name it. Obama ducks all skirmishes, and all real accomplishment. Relying on rousing rhetoric and skillful manipulation of a type available to incumbent presidents, he has been able to minimize the attrition of his image, so that his core support could almost ignore the loss. That ended, however, when Edward Snowdon released the documents that made plain the total destruction of America’s concepts of guaranteed privacy, as enshrined in the Fourth Amendment’s insistence on warrants and probable cause.
It was fascinating yet depressing to watch Obama’s spin on the Snowdon leaks. It was entirely a right-wing spin, such as might have come out of Cheney and the neo-cons. Obama simply tossed the issue aside, as one might do with a charge devoid of substance, asserting that “no one is listening in to your calls.” There was no recognition of the lies that he and almost everyone in high office have been telling Congress and the American people; in fact Obama introduced a new lie, that the “metadata” does not include “content,” i.e. what people are actually saying. The most recently leaked Snowdon document, however, tells of an additional metadata file containing content, and this file is apparently vast and unlimited. Whether anyone is actually looking at that file is beside the point- they could look if they wanted to, without probable cause or a warrant. Think of your last phone call. Was it about your electricity bill? Was it to a child traveling in Europe? Whatever it was, it is recorded in full and available to people in our government. Picture Bush getting up in front of the nation and explaining that the unexpected confirmation that we are already a surveillance state is no big deal, that it is not really happening, and that this surveillance that is not really happening is essential to our security. I think we all know how that would have gone over.
But it’s Obama, acting in his own political interest, calculating which groups would make a stink about the leaks and which wouldn’t. He calculated correctly that, particularly in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing in which the surveillance state appeared in part to be validated, most of America would settle back into its sleepwalking. But the issue is wider than that, and Obama has in fact outlived his charisma. Although they are not protesting in the streets, the liberal mass that supported Obama has been dealt a lethal dose of cognitive dissonance. This can’t be the man they voted for, can it? This man who defends the end of communication privacy in America, who writes up kill-lists for drone strikes, who lets Wall Street perps walk free and in fact employs them, who constructs a health care system around insurance interests?
Can the national or state GOP move into this void and come to our assistance? Apparently not, judging by the fate of a very reasonable amendment to the Defense Omnibus spending bill by Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) which would have required justification for specific data grabs: 134 Republicans voted against (including 10 from CA) dooming the amendment by 12 votes and missing an opportunity for the party to appear, for once, defenders of something good, instead of merely obstructionists.
The upshot is that the entire political spectrum is adrift and leaderless. That’s a dangerous situation because it makes war tempting. War is already tempting because of the recession and people’s belief that war is good for economies. Now war is additionally tempting because when America faces an external threat, it comes together, and presidents in particular can easily ride thewave of solidarity. Just look how one relatively limited terrorist attack in Boston makes us comfortable with an advanced surveillance state. Imagine what could happen to the freedoms the GOP says it cares about in the wake of an attack like 9/11 or worse.
America seems to have two choices: either improve government so that war reclaims its place as last resort, or accept a rudderless ship and continual wars that give the illusion of leadership while covering its absence. Of course it will not be either/or. There really are dangerous groups out there that wish us harm, and we really do have to dealwith them, but without some creative and intelligent leadership our battle with terrorists will ring as false as our declarations on privacy. We will fight our enemies more effectively if we have figured ourselves out first.
Doug Lasken is a retired L.A. Unified teacher, current freelancer and debate coach. Reach him at doug.lasken@gmail.com