Edward Snowden on obama: what the evidence says · JRE #1368
SUBJECT: OBAMA
Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.
Obama's saying, you know, that's not who we are that's not what we do um and yet within 100 days of him becoming a president uh now he's sitting in that chair rather than extinguishing these programs he embraces them and expands
What the evidence says 01 / RECORD
As a senator and 2008 candidate, Barack Obama criticized Bush-era warrantless wiretapping and promised reforms, then as a candidate voted for the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which legalized much of that surveillance and granted telecom immunity. PolitiFact rated his 2008 campaign promise to reform warrantless wiretapping law as a "Compromise," noting some limits were added but loopholes remained. As president, Obama continued and in documented instances expanded NSA surveillance authorities: early in his first term he signed extensions of Patriot Act provisions including Section 215, and he later signed a multi-year renewal of the FISA Amendments Act, the same law he had once threatened to filibuster as a senator. PolitiFact concluded that Obama's concerns about Bush-era surveillance tactics "dwindled" once he took office and that he "has defended ongoing programs." The specific framing of a reversal occurring within exactly "100 days" is rhetorical shorthand rather than a documented policy milestone; the continuity and subsequent expansion of these programs under Obama is well documented, though it unfolded over his multi-year first term rather than a literal 100-day window. Overall status: largely accurate on substance (continuation and expansion of surveillance under Obama), with an imprecise but non-material timeline detail.