Because President Obama is NOT evil; that is why many of us trust and defend him...

[BlueCheese]

179. Good and evil are too simple as categories.

We can think Obama is basically a decent guy who would not knowingly abuse these surveillance programs. But he's capable of being wrong, just as FDR was wrong-- very, very, wrong-- about Japanese American internment. These NSA programs lay the groundwork for something terribly wrong happening again, whether under this president or a future one.

As for your repeated exhortations to call Congress to repeal the Patriot Act: certainly that's a good idea. But remember the president has to sign the thing for it to become law. Half of Congress is Republican, and thinks the Patriot Act is a swell idea. We had our hopes invested in the president, who at one point claimed to be on our side on this issue, and that is why we are so disappointed in him.

We are a government of laws, not of people. Nobody should have power that, when abused, would be so dangerous as the NSA programs. Obama may not abuse them; in fact I doubt very much that he will. But come January 2017, we'll have a different president. Do you want that person to have all of your phone records, and the phone records of every other American?