Keith Olbermann has had enough

Last January, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann gave a "Special Comment" railing against Bush's warrantless wiretapping programs, and plans to immunize the telecom companies that aided them, as "textbook fascism."  Then in June, when a so-called "compromise" bill on wiretapping came up for a vote and then-Senator Obama said he'd vote for it, even if he and his colleagues couldn't get the retroactive-immunity provision removed (and it turned out they couldn't), Olbermann inexplicably switched sides.  Apparently blinded by Obama's charisma, he and fellow progressive media icon Jonathan Alter proclaimed that Obama was standing up to "the Left" and keeping us safe from terrorism.

Well, apparently Mr. Olbermann recovered his sight after hearing about the latest developments in Obama's apparent quest to maintain and even further expand the executive powers the Bush administration so blatantly abused (the latest dangerous buzzword: "Sovereign immunity").  Here is Olbermann applying his trademark finely judged outrage to the new President and bringing in a Constitutional law professor to explain the severe problems with Obama's stance.

In a strange way, this makes me feel a little better about the Obama presidency overall.  If his charisma doesn't necessarily hold up anymore as a screen to cover wrongdoing, it may be easier than I feared to get people to hold him accountable.  Especially to his claim that he will listen to the people who "were the real winners" on November 4th, even when they disagree with him.