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Comment by Pxtl | Hacker News Reader

You ever notice how President Obama acts like he's nt in charge of the government? The whole "outsider" schtick doesn't really work 6 years into your Presidency.

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That's probably because he isn't really in charge of it. But he makes a better figurehead than the last bozo I guess.

We need leaders, not figureheads.

Sounds great, you should run for the job. I'm sure if we just elected someone who was leader-y enough, they'd be able to turn that ship on a dime.

A true captain can stop a ship if it's heading into rough waters, even if he can't turn it around. A single executive order could cause everyone at NSA to take a paid furlough, just as a single executive order could close Guantanamo.

Obama has sworn, twice, to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. If there's something truly worth defending about bulk collection, something so important that it's worth compromising the Constitution, he should tell us why he's breaching the trust our electors placed in him.

I'm dissapointed in Obama on this issue too, especially compared to his history of statements before becoming president, but I can't even list the ways that metaphor ran off the rails.

Temporarily laying off the entire NSA staff because they are doing something you don't like is a terrible idea. It would do more harm than good.

What harm would it do, exactly? Is there any objective evidence that the NSA has predicted anything or prevented anything?

As I understand it, they didn't know the Russians were planning to take Crimea, they didn't have actionable information on the Boston Marathon bombers despite explicit warnings from Russia and Germany, they didn't have a clue about the embassy attack in Benghazi.

Yet, they assert that spying massively on all Americans makes us safer. I remain wholly unconvinced and deeply skeptical.

Do you need them in the presidency? How do you plan to get them?

Can you explain your comment more, in the context of this article?

I think he's saying that after six years of leading the country, the President needs to step up and take responsibility for what his administration has done. He won his first election by running against George Bush, but that act has gotten really old really fast.

Here here!

A whole lot of politicians need to look at themselves and ask what responsibility they take for governing. Many seem to think that it's a game where you should abuse the ruleset and beat your opponent at any cost. A country can't be run with so many bad faith actors that refuse to cooperate.

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