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from the keeping-your-friends-close-and-your-enemies-closer dept.
Edward Snowden said that from contacts he has had with those in the White House and in President Obama's orbit, "we've come to understand that [Obama] was personally wounded as a result of these disclosures," which prompted Snowden to seek asylum outside the country.
[...] Snowden also addressed the notion of President Obama pardoning him. Based on communications he had with Obama's White House and those in the former president's orbit, Snowden realized he would not receive a pardon because the information Snowden leaked significantly damaged Obama's legacy.
[...] It had long been speculated, leading up to Obama's final hours in office, that he would grant Snowden a 11th hour pardon.
Snowden, however, disputed this notion saying, "I don't think it was a likely case. I'm not even sure it was a possible case, because the president himself was the one most personally embarrassed by these disclosures."
"[Obama] campaigned in 2007...on the platform of saying he would end exactly this kind of warrantless mass surveillance," Snowden continued. "In secret, instead of ending this programs, he entrenched them and expanded them. He made their reach greater, he made their use more common, he normalized what had been an unlawful and unpopular program of the George Bush administration and made it a new American tradition."
Will Obama's legacy come to be, as Snowden seems to suggest, that he normalized police state surveillance?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 04 2017, @06:29PM (7 children)
Meanwhile incompetent old white guys keep getting elected.
That's the real affirmative action.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 04 2017, @08:01PM (6 children)
And you'd prefer incompetent black guys been elected?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 04 2017, @11:51PM (5 children)
They should at least get an equal shot.
Compare Obama's resume with the guys who proceeded and followed him.
They aren't even on the same level. Fuck, trump barely got a 4 year degree.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 05 2017, @07:03AM (1 child)
Yeah but Obama didn't have the sense to inherit a fortune and a job from his father. Typical lazy urban.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 05 2017, @09:59AM
Yeah he inherited from his white mother instead.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday June 05 2017, @08:27AM (2 children)
A resume is not a degree. It's a history of relevant life experiences. Both Bush and Trump ran businesses at least. But I suppose that's a negative for the edgelords who can't hold down a job.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 05 2017, @03:01PM (1 child)
Don J. "Smallhands" Trump ran businesses all right, to the ground.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday June 06 2017, @12:21AM
And got rich doing so.