Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
And yet another example of Obama morphing into George W. Bush. Now he's threatening to veto a bill that provides for more congressional oversight of intelligence operations.
President Obama will veto a major intelligence funding bill unless lawmakers remove provisions that would toughen congressional oversight of spy agencies and require more stringent congressional notification of intelligence activities.Three sections of the bill are of "serious concern to the intelligence community," OMB Director Peter Orszag wrote to Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Vice Chairman Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.), House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-Calif.) and ranking member Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.). The three sections are "so serious that the president's senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill if they are included."
Presidents have always hated congressional oversight of anything the executive branch does, but improvements in that oversight has always followed periods of the most flagrant and unconstitutional abuses of power by the executive branch. It happened in the mid to late 70s after the Church Committee revealed a whole range of covert CIA actions to overthrow governments, illegal FBI surveillance through COINTELPRO and other programs and so forth.
Now Congress is trying to assert more authority over intelligence operations in the wake of the Bush administration's use of torture, extraordinary rendition and warrantless wiretaps. And Obama is on the wrong side yet again. What side is that? Pete Hoekstra's side:
"The Democrats just can't seem to get on the same page when it comes to addressing the national security threats facing our nation," said Rep. Pete Hoekstra (Mich.), the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee. "The issues that continue to dog this flawed intelligence bill raise serious questions about the Democrats' handling of critical national security issues."
If you're a Democrat and you find yourself arguing for less transparency and less oversight and agreeing with Pete Hoekstra, it's probably time to rethink your position. But as usual, Obama is more interested in protecting his own power than in doing the right thing.
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To be fair, the OMB director says that he would recommend Obama veto the bill. Nowhere in that article is a quote by Obama.
On the other hand, Obama picks these people, and seems to be consistently picking people that are pushing the important offices in a direction I don't like. The DOJ being the biggest one, but all through the administration.
Posted by: Jo | March 19, 2010 9:36 AM
Jo @ 1 stated:
You'd have an arguable point if the President would consistently get on the record on each of these types of matters. However he's rarely spoke-out on his Administrations' activities so the criticism is more than fair, in fact it is representative of President Obama's demonstrated behavior to have his delegates speak out on topics contra to Constitutional principles.
Our cause is also not helped given the media continuously fails to confront the President on these types of matters, which I think is becoming a story in its own right. We should be able to walk and chew gum at the same time, the President in fact brags about his ability in that regard, therefore there's no reason the media can reduce the number of process related questions by a couple to challenge the President on Constitutional and executive power issues.
Posted by: Michael Heath | March 19, 2010 10:07 AM
I'm not sure if this is Obama protecting/expanding his power, or another example of the favorite Democratic sport of hippie-punching. Either would not surprise me.
Posted by: Shygetz | March 19, 2010 10:32 AM
The GAO disagrees with Mr. Orszag. In their polite, bureaucratic way, they are saying that what he says is bullshit.
http://www.fas.org/irp/news/2010/03/gao031810.pdf
Posted by: Moopheus | March 19, 2010 10:33 AM
Jo @ 1:
Leaks are how Obama handles communication. Some aide at an appropriate level leaks the story, sometimes anonymously. Then Obama waits to see polling data before either committing himself or "reprimanding" the aide.
Posted by: Miko | March 19, 2010 11:00 AM
@Michael Heath - how can the media challenge Obama on this topic? It doesn't fit properly into the Democratic vs. Republican battle. They've lost the ability to frame a political issue in any other format.
Posted by: BobApril | March 19, 2010 12:38 PM
Obama's election was like the opening scene of Animal Farm. I suspect the end of his first term will be reminiscent of the closing scene of Animal Farm.
Posted by: MadScientist | March 20, 2010 6:21 AM