Obama's conservative positions

Obama - not a progressive's hero.

From Boing Boing

Obama's regressive record makes Nixon look like Che


Redditor Federal Reservations has made a handy post enumerating all the regressive, authoritarian, corporatist policies enacted by the Obama administration in its one-and-a-bit terms. You know, for someone the right wing press likes to call a socialist, Obama sure makes Richard Nixon look like Che Guevara. And what's more, this is only a partial list, and excludes the parade of copyright horrors and bad Internet policy emanating from the White House, via Joe Biden's push for Six Strikes, the US Trade Rep's push for secret Internet censorship and surveillance treaties like TPP and ACTA and TAFTA; the DoJ's push to criminalize every Internet user by expanding the CFAA, and much, much more.

    Obama extends Patriot Act without reform - [1]
    http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-05-27/news/29610822_1_terrorist-groups-law-enforcement-secret-intelligence-surveillance

    Signs NDAA 2011 (and 2012, and 2013) - [2]
    http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/01/02/president-obama-signed-the-national-defense-authorization-act-now-what/

    Appeals the Federal Court decision that "indefinite detention" is unconstitutional - [3]
    http://www.activistpost.com/2013/02/ndaa-hedges-v-obama-did-bill-of-rights.html

    Double-taps a 16-year-old American-born US citizen living in Yemen, weeks after the boy's father was killed. Administration's rationale? He "should have [had] a far more responsible father" - [4]
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/anwar-al-awlakis-family-speaks-out-against-his-sons-deaths/2011/10/17/gIQA8kFssL_story.html

    Continues to approve drone strikes that kill thousands of innocent civilians including women and children in Pakistan, Yemen, and other countries that do not want the US intervening; meanwhile, according to the Brookings Institute's Daniel Byman, we are killing 10 civilians for every one mid- to high- level Al Qaeda/Taliban operative. This is particularly disturbing, since now any military-aged male in a strike zone is now officially considered an enemy combatant - [5]
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/7361630/One-in-three-killed-by-US-drones-in-Pakistan-is-a-civilian-report-claims.html

    Protects Bush's war crimes as State Secrets - [6] [7] [8]
    http://www.salon.com/2010/09/08/obama_138/
    https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/obama-doj-worse-than-bush
    http://washingtonindependent.com/33985/in-torture-cases-obama-toes-bush-line

    Waives sections of a law meant to prevent the recruitment of child soldiers in Africa in order to deepen military relationship with countries that have poor human rights records -[9]
    http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/10/26/why_is_obama_easing_restrictions_on_child_soldiers

    Appoints Monsanto, GMO company with multiple unsafe practice violations, lobbyist to head the FDA - [10]
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/monsanto-petition-tells-obama-cease-fda-ties-to-monsanto/2012/01/30/gIQAA9dZcQ_blog.html

    DOJ raids marijuana dispensaries that are now legal pursuant state law - [11]
    http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=685_1342311527

    Obama protects AG Holder from Congressional "Fast and Furious" gun walking investigations - [12]
    http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/06/white-house-invokes-executive-privilege-on-fast-and-furious-documents/

    Brings no criminal charges against bank executives that misused bailouts - [13]
    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/opinion/sunday/no-crime-no-punishment.html

    Engages in a war on whistleblowers - [14]
    http://dailycaller.com/2012/07/31/the-obama-administrations-war-on-whistleblowers/

    Grants immunity to CIA torturers - [15]
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/31/obama-justice-department-immunity-bush-cia-torturer

    Quadruples Bush's warrantless wiretapping program - [16]
    http://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security-technology-and-liberty/new-justice-department-documents-show-huge-increase

    Allows innocent man to die at gitmo - [17]
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/suzanne-nossel/the-death-of-guantanamo_b_1878375.html

    Increases Drug War budget - [18]
    http://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/the-national-drug-control-budget-fy-2013-funding-highlights

    Supports intrusive TSA pat-downs and body scans - [19]
    http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/11/20/obama.tsa/index.html

    Says it's legal to track individuals by pinpointing their cellphone without warrant - [20]
    http://www.businessinsider.com/government-says-its-to-track-cell-phones-2012-10

    Renews FISA and NSA's unregulated spying and banking of all wireless communication - [21] [22]
    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/us/01nsa.html
    http://www.democracynow.org/2012/4/20/whistleblower_the_nsa_is_lying_us Appeals SCOTUS ruling that warrantless installation of tracking devices on cars is unconstitutional - [23]
    http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/11591-obama-admin-argues-no-warrant-required-for-gps-tracking-of-citizens

    DOJ overzealously prosecutes [read: persecutes] activist Aaron Swartz, ultimately leading to his suicide in the face of trumped-up charges brought forth to silence his movement for open information - [24]
    http://rt.com/usa/secret-service-accused-of-misconduct-in-aaron-swartz-case-020/ Obama nominates JP Morgan defense lawyer to head the SEC, the regulatory agency in charge of keeping Wall Street in line - [25]
    http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/choice-of-mary-jo-white-to-head-sec-puts-fox-in-charge-of-hen-house-20130125

    Picks Goldman Sachs partner Bruce Heyman-who, along with his wife, raised $1 million for Obama-as an ambassador to Canada - [26]
    http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2013/04/03/pol-us-ambassador-to-canada-obama.html

Thanks Obama!