But in July 2008, once he had secured the nomination, a bill came before the Senate that did exactly that - the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 - and Obama not only failed to filibuster as promised, but far worse, he voted against the filibuster brought by other Senators, and then voted in favor of enacting the bill itself. That blatant, unblinking violation of his own clear promise - actively supporting a bill he had sworn months earlier he would block from a vote - caused a serious rift even in the middle of an election year between Obama and his own supporters.
Among other things, what this disgusting exercise shows is how false the "partisan gridlock" meme is. When it comes to maintaining unaccountable power in the hands of a tiny and shadowy group, there is no partisan divide, just a handful of members of Congress, from both parties, who have the quaint notion that their oath to uphold the Constitution requires them to vote against assaults on the Bill of Rights.
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