Obama’s message has been about change. He’s the new guy. He’s not a croonie. He’s not not about business as usual. He’s running for the people not the corporations.

But what does that mean? Isn’t that what everyone says?

Today the Dodd/Feingold amendment just failed in the Senate (31-67) in what future generations will undoubtedly see as a failure of democracy. Bush’s wire tapping law gives retroactive immunity to telecom providers. This means that telephone companies can not be held accountable for any illegal actions they may have done to comply with illegal requests from the government to wiretap on U.S. citizens. No matter how badly a U.S. citizen was done wrong, they have no right to justice.

The “I was just following orders” argument didn’t work for the Nazis. It doesn’t absolve solders in time of war, so it is amazing to claim that telephone companies deserve protection from the law when solders in war don’t!

It is really a question of are we a nation of laws, where the laws apply to all people equally? Or, are we a nation of people who are treated according to who they know?

The failed amendment would have removed the clause that put telecoms above the law. McCain voted against the amendment. Hillary didn’t even show up for the vote. Obama voted for the rule of law. That really would be a welcome change from the past 8 years!