Would having him say "I truly believe that without these expanded powers we would not be sufficiently safe." make this all okay?
I mean, he should be saying something, not having a deputy press secretary make a statement: http://www.whitehousedossier.com/2013/06/07/obama-silent-sur...;
Granted, that ended with: "My final point here: The president welcomes a discussion of the tradeoffs between security and civil liberties."