March 25, 2014

The Obamabots Are Out to Get Me !!!

It seems that Star Reporter and Brave Defender of Noble Whistleblowers everywhere Glenn Greenwald is in fine fettle today. Apropos of nothing, he takes on his favorite StrawMan, the mythical character who defends Barack Obama at all costs, no matter what he does, without giving any examples of the creature. This time, it's in the context of the President's apparent decision to discontinue the collection of metadata, while still allowing the government to get permission from FISA to review said data. I have no idea how any of that is really a reform or will bolster my right of privacy, but Greenwald seems to be getting some serious wood about this, less because the President has proposed such a step as that his "supporters" (ie., African Americans, feminists, MSNBC watchers, Latinos, etc.) will now have to back this apparent change in policy. Of course, I love a good old-fashioned "Everybody is a Hypocrite Except Me" rant as much as the next guy, except our Intrepid Junior Chomsky in Rio doesn't provide any examples of this misbehavior, not a single "defend-Obama-at-all-cost cheerleaders" who has publicly defended a decision by the Administration, then flipped after the President has had a change of heart. Not one link, not an anecdote nor quote. Nothing. Nada. The article begins with a long dissertation on the Obama Administration's decision not to release additional Abu Ghraib photos in 2009. Greenwald points out that the initial decision, popular with progressives, was to go ahead and publish the pics, but that public outcry forced a reversal. Greenwald claims that the decision was met with a similarly dramatic reversal among Obama's supporters, but provides no examples of same; in fact, he does link to an old Salon article which shows quite the opposite, with people like Andrew Sullivan, Dan Froomkin, John Aravosis and the proprietors of Talking Points Memo all attacking the President for the flip-flop !! This has been a recurrent habit of Mr. Greenwald, a self-righteous tone that demands that we acknowledge not only his bravery and intrepid defense of our Liberties and Freedoms, but that those who disagree with him aren't simply hypocrites, but even worse, Partisan Hacks. That he doesn't see fit to provide any evidence that these people exist outside of a blog's Comments Section ultimately weakens his ability to speak to the undecided, but in the end, that isn't important to him, since the issue, whether it be NSA spying or drone attacks or torture, isn't really important to him either.