Obama on WBEZ Odyssey
Chicago public radio station WBEZ has posted MP3s of then State Sen. Barack Obama's appearance on four editions of their public affairs program Odyssey. This includes several controversial remarks by Obama, frequently heard over the past few days, about flaws in the U. S. Constitution and how to bring about "economic justice" and "redistributive change." At the link above, you can also click to listen to the original Real Audio files.
I applaud WBEZ for making this information more easily available. Obama has such a thin paper trail, these discussions provide valuable insight into his ideology, his understanding of the proper role of government.
(I also applaud them for keeping seven-year old archives of programs available to the public. Too often, radio and TV stations purge their online archives after a change in website structure or a change in on-air personnel, and valuable historical material is lost.)
Several comments on the above post called for WBEZ to demand, under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA), that YouTube take down the videos containing excerpts from the show. Acting program director Steve Edwards explained why they declined to do this:
Some of you have inquired as to why we didn't request a takedown notice for the YouTube video. Here's the deal: As an organization we strive to be an impeccable source of independent, unbiased news and information. While our audio content in this case was excerpted and repackaged in way that wasn't in keeping with our own editorial standards, the source audio was available to others on the web and its use in this case was within generally acceptable fair use provisions. Thus, we didn't have any clear legal claim to intervene one way or the other. And more importantly, to do so would have been tantamount to intervening on behalf of the Obama campaign. To take actions that could be construed as helping either campaign (Obama's or McCain's) is contrary to our own standards of reporting in an unbiased and independent manner. Instead, we believed the best approach was simply to make available the original source of the audio - in its entirety - for others to listen to themselves and to decide what Senator Obama said and meant.
Good on WBEZ.
(You can read my comments on Obama's January 18, 2001, Odyssey appearance -- with the discussion of "redistributive change" -- here. Image above is from The People's Cube.)
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Here's a pretty basic question for a prospective future Commander-in-Chief:
Could he pass a U.S. Government Security Clearance?
McCain, Yes. He could and he has. Repeatedly.
Obama, No. Not in a million years.
true enough but the real questions is "Who wuold or will call the changling on it". If republicans do it its sour grapes, racism, and all that the libs can think of.
second, my bet is there will be unified government. the annointed one in the white house and democrat control in the house and senate. any chage of this ilk would never get out of committee.
third, even if the issue arose its a constitutional crisis. the elected president cannot function without intel. if he's not cleared to get that intel, on what constitutional grounds to you remove him? it could only be impeachment, right?
An elected Federal official is cleared by virtue of his election. If the people trust him with the Presidency, then he is automatically considered trustworthy of access to the nation's secrets. Even if he isn't.
"then he is automatically considered trustworthy of access to the nation's secrets. Even if he isn't."
that's the logical argument. is this codified in law anywhere?