Congressmen telling the public about this would have been a felony which they are not protected from. That's part of the reason Obama's comments are completely disingenuous.
But why aren't Americans in the street already? Europeans would be already in the street by now for a lot less than this. Remember the ACTA protests?
Some Europeans. Former East Germans, Greeks, most of those in the eastern European countries, Spain, Portugal. People of a certain age in those countries can remember what living under a dictatorship was like.
Now, the members of congress fighting the Obama administration have a crisis to run their next election on. And, in their quest to "take Obama to task", they might solve some of the existing issues around the Patriot Act, which they voted for multiple times.
Because authoritarians secretly like it, and others are terrified that they will be put on a list (or many lists) and their lives will be ruined.
Same reasons people aren't constantly in the streets within every authoritarian country.
Because they don't care too much ? Honestly there should have been multiple occasions for the American people to go and protest in the recent past but they did not. That's very easy for the government to continue and see how far they can go. The answer is : very far.
I wager that, for the average American, this news made them feel safer, and the only thing they're upset about is that the "bad guys" now know something they shouldn't.
I'm convinced most of us Americans just don't care, and that bothers me more than what the government is doing.
If it's government running amok, that leaves open the possibility that they can be reigned in. All you need to do is get the people sufficiently aware and sufficiently angry and the problem is solved!
But if it's simply the government obeying the will of the people, then we're screwed much harder. Convincing people who are deeply afraid of terror attacks and who find comfort in massive government programs meant to protect them that they should invert their priorities is massively difficult, perhaps impossible.