After listening to your recent press conference on the NSA scandal (yes, it is a scandal) I am more offended and outraged than if you would have kept quiet. The patronizing manner in which you addressed this shit storm; yes, it is a shit storm; addressing the nation and answering reporters’ questions as if they were not too bright children shows your true character, or lack thereof.
You speak of the loss of public trust as if trust was lost due to our lack of understanding of the big, bad world. You claim that it is the speed at which technology moves forward, along with the pesky revelations (said as an afterthought) made by whistle blower, Ed Snowden; yes, he is a whistle blower, caused this “depletion of public trust”. What you fail to understand is the loss of public trust is not just your blatant disregard for the constitutional rights and civil liberties of the American population. It is a culmination of all things; the signing of the NDAA of 2011 which codified policies you promised to reverse, the drone strikes on a population of a country we aren’t at war with, the promises and demands you made regarding the accountability of Wall Street’s Masters of the Universe, the shameless pandering to the state of Israel at the expense of another population…it is not one thing, it is everything. The collection and storage of the digital communications of the American population as if they were enemies of the state was the final betrayal.
You now claim that you find it important that we have an all important debate or discussion regarding the practices of the NSA. You have had 5 years to lead this dialogue and I am certain that if Snowden’s disclosures hadn’t come to light, this “discussion” never would have occurred.
As I see it, these recent disclosures made by Edward Snowden are something we, as a nation, won’t come back from. Although we were your staunchest supporter, to many of us, you are now beyond redemption. There is virtually nothing you can do or say that will build that lost trust. Through your betrayal of the American people, “Alea iacta est”, the die is cast; we have crossed the Rubicon.