After yesterday’s Senate FISA vote, bloggers on both the right and left are in rare agreement over Barack Obama’s character. The FISA bill passed 69-28, with Obama voting “yes”…and, interestingly, with Hillary Clinton appeasing the netroots and voting “no.” As ABC’s Jake Tapper explains, this is a major flip-flop for Obama. At The Corner, Stephen Spruiell says that the left has “had their doubts about him since he was running as a centrist in Iowa, and it hasn’t escaped their attention that the candidate they dumped in favor of Barack, Hillary Clinton, voted against FISA reform yesterday.” And boy, is the left angry. Glenn Greenwald proclaims, “Obama’s vote in favor of cloture, in particular, cemented the complete betrayal of the commitment he made back in October when seeking the Democratic nomination.” And Open Left’s Matt Stoller says, “It’s ironic so far I suppose that Clinton is of late a more reliable ally than Obama, at least on this issue.” They’re not just angry with Obama, either. As Daily Kos blogger Devilstower writes, “Following on the heels of the FISA ‘compromise,’ it’s starting to look as if the Democratic strategy for 2008 can be summed up as ‘give in on every point of contention so they have nothing to complain about in November.'” The right seems to agree with these assessments of Obama. Power Line’s John Hinderaker explains, “Like everything Barack Obama says, that pledge [to filibuster FISA] was operative only as long as it was in Obama’s political interest. Last month, he announced a change in position. He still favored the Dodd amendment to strip telecom immunity from the act, but said he would now vote in favor of cloture and in favor of final passage of the FISA reform bill.” Also at The Corner, Andy McCarthy adds, “Obama was against it before he was for it, but was for filibustering it before he was against filibustering it. The President will sign an English-only version into law, probably tomorrow.” And at Contentions, Jennifer Rubin says that vital information was lost while the passage of FISA was delayed, and concludes, “Obama’s greatest sin was not in playing politics and deceiving his base of supporters–who have every right to scream bloody murder. It was in putting politics above his country. That, much more than lying to his well-meaning base which foolishly trusted his words, is what voters should remember.”
