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Comment by kunai | Hacker News Reader

"Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on earth. "

But you didn't work on it, Mr. President. Just like your preceding, you established a corrupt administration hell-bent upon restriction of freedom and secrecy. You are no better than Bush, and regardless of what party differences both of you had, you are one and the same behind the scenes.

You just don't give a fuck.

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"and restored our image as the last, best hope on earth."

No joke. These are not idle words.

I grew up in Eastern Europe looking up to the great US of A, where hippies stopped a war and abolished the draft, where people can sue the government and win, where privacy and human rights are enshrined in the Constitution, which more than 200 hundred years ago prompted other nations to adopt something similar many years later.

Then the 9/11 came. Fast forward a decade and it looks like all those great achievements went to the toilet. Sorry, I can't help but feel that the Americans have let the world down, and the terrorists have won.

It's just the nerve that gets me. "We can tell our children this day"

--stop it right there. That's bullshit, and he knows it. A president can't do anything without Congress, and when Congress is crap, nothing but a downward spiral is going to be the outlook.

The president can, and does do things without congress. Dig into FISA for an example.

Well the Democrats did control Congress from 2008-2010...

And much of what's happening in the Justice Department and IRS, for instance, belong squarely to the Executive. Something could be done, but this administration is not doing it.

It's so easy from the outside to simply say things like this with absolutely no first-hand knowledge.

Maybe he did just say those things at election time and doesn't truly care. But assuming that to be the case for certain is lazy thinking.

The discussion I want to have is, what else could make a person who is dead-set against surveillance turn around so drastically once in office? What did he see, what did he come up against? Right or wrong, what scared him?

Unfortunately, we never have that discussion. Politicians are all just simple liars, it's as easy at that, there is no nuance to even remotely consider, blah blah.

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