The Differences Between Obama And Bush On NSA Surveillance, According To Virtual Obama

from the watch-this dept

It feels like it’s been a while since I’ve seen Xtranormal videos, but someone who shall remain nameless has put together a rather hysterical video of President Obama explaining why massive NSA surveillance under his watch is different than when it was done by President George W. Bush. As you may recall, President Obama criticized these programs while he was “Candidate Obama,” but has now expanded them massively. This video explains why — and is likely to make you laugh:

Below are some of my favorite lines… which is actually nearly a full transcript, because as I was picking out “favorite” lines, most of the video fell into that category.

It was concerning when the Bush administration was secretly collecting your information. Heck, I had concerns back then myself. But, everyone knows that George W. Bush was not a good President. Whereas, I am a good President. See the difference? So, while you could not trust George W. Bush to secretly collect your data, you can trust me. I’m a trustworthy guy.

Another important difference between my administration and the Bush administration is that when the Bush administration secretly spied on you, the Bush administration could not point to a single judge willing to say their program was legal. We, on the other hand, can point to such a judge. I’m not going to tell you who this judge is, or why he or she thinks our program is legal. If I did that, it would, obviously be harder for me to convince you that the program is legal. Instead, I’m just going to tell you that we secretly found one judge who was willingly to secretly say that it was legal for us to collect all of your data….

The Bush administration could not tell you that it had informed Congress. Whereas my administration took steps to ensure that if you ever found out about our secret surveillance program, we could tell you that we informed Congress. To be clear, when I say ‘we informed Congress,’ I am not saying that we did out best to ensure that Congress had enough information to have an informed debate on this vital national security issue. What I am saying is that we informed Congress enough for me to stand here and tell you that ‘we informed Congress.’ What Congress actually knew is not important….

If Congress did not want us to secretly interpret the law, then Congress should not have passed a law for us to secretly interpret….

If you, the American people, did not want me to secretly collect your data, then you should not have elected me President. Yes, I know many of you were probably unaware that I wanted to secretly collect your data, especially since I said I would not secretly collect your data. But, I choose to believe that you elected me to be your President, because you believe that if someone has to secretly collect your data, that someone should be me. And, as we all know, my secret interpretations of your support are more important than the reasons you actually supported me.

Finally, while I do not believe there is any reason to debate this issue, I will tell you that I welcome a debate on this issue. In fact, I’m so grateful that Edward Snowden started this debate that I have decided to stop at nothing to ensure he spends the rest of his life in a federal prison.

Filed Under: barack obama, fisa court, fisc, george w. bush, nsa surveillance, secret interpretations, surveillance