Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Sunday June 04 2017, @05:27PM   Printer-friendly
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?


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 4, Informative) by optotronic on Monday June 05 2017, @03:13AM (9 children)

    by optotronic (4285) on Monday June 05 2017, @03:13AM (#520553)

    Obama is revered because:
    - he is intelligent
    - he is well spoken
    - he acts like an adult
    - he didn't embarrass the country with his words or actions
    - he exudes competence
    - he carefully considered problems before offering a solution
    - he was willing to work with the opposing party
    - he tried to help citizens (and succeeded), instead of wealthy businessmen
    - he managed to get comprehensive health care passed
    - he cared about and acted for the future instead of current greed

    I assume he believes he made mistakes. He was privy to a lot of information I was not, so I can't say with certainty I would have done differently.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +3  
       Informative=3, Total=3
    Extra 'Informative' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   4  
  • (Score: 1) by realDonaldTrump on Monday June 05 2017, @04:42AM (1 child)

    by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Monday June 05 2017, @04:42AM (#520577) Homepage Journal

    He's getting that information from wiretapps. Terrible! He tapped my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 05 2017, @07:09AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 05 2017, @07:09AM (#520607)

      Don't forget the birth certificate forgery and the brown suit. Worst President EVER!

  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday June 05 2017, @08:43AM (2 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday June 05 2017, @08:43AM (#520632) Journal
    I take it you weren't intending to be sarcastic with that list? Because the first three items are the only ones I'm willing to grant of him. Even then, I'm not going to agree that he acted convincingly when he acted like an adult.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 05 2017, @10:01AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 05 2017, @10:01AM (#520649)

      Well spoken? He has a stutter.

      • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday June 05 2017, @09:25PM

        by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday June 05 2017, @09:25PM (#520993)

        You've got to compare him to his peers - starting with W, I'd say O spoke quite well.

        --
        🌻🌻 [google.com]
  • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday June 05 2017, @10:13AM (3 children)

    by Gaaark (41) on Monday June 05 2017, @10:13AM (#520652) Journal

    - he acts like an adult
    - he didn't embarrass the country with his words or actions
    - he exudes competence

    He extended and expanded the spying (on YOU!) and on his allies and got CAUGHT!

    Are YOU not enraged by this?
    Are you not EMBARRASSED by this?

    --
    --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
    • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday June 05 2017, @10:19AM (2 children)

      by Gaaark (41) on Monday June 05 2017, @10:19AM (#520654) Journal

      Are the young generation so blind they don't know when someone is fecking their arse?

      Seriously. Governments and corporations today are fecking you, and you revere this?
      You use Facebook, you give Obama a pass.

      Bend over some more, cause the future is looking shitty unless MORE people start fighting back!

      Don't use Facebook!
      Don't give shit a pass.
      Shit IS NOT competent!

      Stand up and take back your rights!

      --
      --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
      • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 05 2017, @01:37PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 05 2017, @01:37PM (#520722)

        Did you just respond to yourself?
        We can practically see the spittle dripping off your monitor.
        I can only conclude that you are a plant working for the NSA paid to make all protestors of the surveillence state look like off-their-rocker nutjobs.
        With friends like you, who needs enemies?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 05 2017, @06:04PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 05 2017, @06:04PM (#520875)

          I want to add that the guy who founded facebook should get his profile set to public every now and then without his being aware of it, so that everyone can see what he otherwise thought was private.

          i dont approve of the governments actions and spying on the populace, and I try hard to not be a one-issue voter (and I have lots of issues--before we even get into the political stuff...) but I greatly detest what the likes of facebook and google have done specifically to enrich shareholder value, what our ISPs want to do with our data, and why it is so hard to even learn what they are selling about oneself without first becoming a business and actually buying your own details.

          It's that greed and then the things one does to keep making that money... what FB and google and the others have done for shareholder value has helped greatly enable the government to fulfil these things that cause such spittle to require cleaning off our collective monitors... shame on the people that write these things, and shame on those that invest in it with the expectation to profit from it. and may someone have mercy on the fools that use it all for "free", because they aren't getting it from me.