Obama joins Senate vote to legitimize Bush's domestic spying operation

The House approved the legislation last month by a vote of 293 to 129.

The action comes more than two-and-a-half years after the revelation about the massive and secret spying program launched by the National Security Agency on orders of the White House. It marks the most naked capitulation by the Democratic leadership to the Bush administration, ceding the president expanded police state powers while shutting down the one avenue for uncovering his crimes and potentially bringing Bush and other top officials to account for violating US law and the Constitution by secretly spying on American citizens.

The legislation, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, includes the most sweeping changes to US surveillance law since the enactment of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act 30 years ago. It further erodes the limited legal protections against indiscriminate and politically motivated government spying and constitutes a frontal assault on basic democratic rights.