Again, the Democrats cave.
Again, the Bushinistas get everything they want--the Senate retroactively approved the administration's previously illegal wiretapping program, even giving immunity to phone companies that had supplied information to the government without the knowledge or consent of customers. The government is now free to spy on you anytime, anyplace. Silly things like warrants or due process are, if not officially things of the past, rapidly approaching their sell-by date. The democracy we once knew is, it seems, the lingering victim of 9/11.
Ah, yes--9/11. Because this program is all about tracking down terrorists, you know. No way it'll be used to rat out political opponents, impossible to imagine it being used as a source for half-truths and innuendos, inconceivable that it could be used for anything but good. After all, Bush tells us it's a good thing, and he's never lied to us.
The vote in the senate--The senate under the control of Democrats! The people who promised us big changes back in 2006!--was 69 to 28, so it wasn't even close. In fairness, I should point out that Hillary Clinton, much mocked in this space, had the decency to vote against it. But who stood as one of the senators yielding unchecked power to the Imperial Presidency? Barack Obama, of course.
Yes, off-the-chart midichlorian count aside, Obama, when the time came, bowed down before the Sith Lord Cheney and pledged fealty. And though I realize he will ultimately be, as Qui-Gon predicted, the Chosen One, the one who by his death finally brings balance to the Force, in the meantime he'll oversee construction of the Death Star, blow up Alderaan and kill and enslave millions. Metaphorically speaking, that is.
So it's official: This November, I'm staying home. Obama may win or lose, but he'll be doing it without any support from me. I can't in clear conscience cast my vote for a guy who'd continue to hand power to Bush and Cheney, or for a guy who forces me to trot out Star Wars analogies I thought had finally fallen by the wayside.
