In case you’ve heard about Obama backing the Bush total-surveillance program, there is a lot to learn. In short, Obama has always backed this program, which is disappointing but unsurprising. More importantly, though, is that these actions are taking place under the initiative of Bush’s old DOJ, which hasn’t been swapped out because Obama’s Attorney General hasn’t been confirmed yet.

…And guess what? That confirmation is being stalled in order to allow the statute of limitations to lapse on certain periods of time during which Bush’s surveillance was flat-out illegal. They have mostly covered their asses, but for the next few weeks, we could potentially hold the last administration accountable.

RTFA: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/01/23/the-o…

A number of you have emailed to ask about this report–that Obama has supported Bush’s request for a stay pending appeal in the al-Haramain case.

The Obama administration fell in line with the Bush administration Thursday when it urged a federal judge to set aside a ruling in a closely watched spy case weighing whether a U.S. president may bypass Congress and establish a program of eavesdropping on Americans without warrants.

…continuing…

On its face, this looks like really horrible news–a spineless attempt on Obama’s part to play along with Bush’s efforts to run out the clock on Bush’s alleged crimes in wiretapping al-Haramain and other Americans. And frankly, this should not be surprising news; Eric Holder said in his confirmation hearing that–unless he finds anything unexpected–he would continue the Bush Administration’s support for retroactive immunity, a case that is also before Judge Vaughn Walker. So it would be unsurprising that the Obama Administration would be cautious in this case as well.

That said, there is some confusion about the whole decision.