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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?


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 04 2017, @05:38PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 04 2017, @05:38PM (#520289)

    Legacy is a tricky thing.

    One of our presidents ended the Vietnam war, created the EPA, and built the framework for our current currency usage. Yet he is remembered for 18 minutes of missing tape.

    Legacy will be whatever the history books write down. Currently the historians have a very 'we loves us some Obama' feel to them so I can see what is written down being very favorable. Will students in 50 years learn about what he did? Probably not. They probably will learn about 'obamacare' then move on to the next president the teach decides to talk about.

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Snotnose on Sunday June 04 2017, @05:42PM (2 children)

    by Snotnose (1623) on Sunday June 04 2017, @05:42PM (#520290)

    I was 14, talking with friends about what we'd do if we got drafted. A couple of friends had brothers in Vietnam. Then Nixon ended the war. I don't care about anything else, he was a pretty good prez in my book.

    --
    Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
    • (Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 04 2017, @05:47PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 04 2017, @05:47PM (#520292)

      Then Nixon ended the war. I don't care about anything else, he was a pretty good prez in my book.

      Nevermind that he prolonged the war to help win the presidency. [smithsonianmag.com]
      Great guy!

      • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 04 2017, @07:19PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 04 2017, @07:19PM (#520325)

        The nixonian parallels keep piling up.
        The president has surveillance on a foreign target that picks up incidental communications about americans who work for a presidential political campaign plotting with those foreigners to manipulate the american election. But the president doesn't go public with the knowledge because (a) he assumes the other guy is going to win despite the dirty tricks and (b) he doesn't want to look like he's manipulating the election. And then the traitor actually wins the election but is so off his rocker that it all starts to implode.

        Meanwhile the traitor's loyalists go on and on about it all just being a made up and a witch-hunt made up by liberals and the press [bostonherald.com] but the whitehouse keeps leaking [thehill.com] left and right to the very same press they can't stop complaining about.