As I indicated earlier, I had left a message at each of the three Democratic front runner campaign sites. I received a response from the Obama campaign this evening. It's a little different than the one Paul Dirks posted on his blog What a Country! so I'll reproduce it in its entirety here:

Dear Friend,

Thank you for contacting me in support of core constitutional principles, such as support for basic civil liberties and opposition to torture and indefinite imprisonment. I strongly agree with these views and you can see that in my record. As a constitutional lawyer, law professor and public servant, I have been clear, consistent and outspoken in defense of these core principles. And I will work hard to restore our constitutional traditions as president.

This Administration has put forward a false choice between the liberties we cherish and the security we demand. When I am president, there will be no more illegal wire-tapping of American citizens. No more national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime. No more tracking citizens who do nothing more than protest a misguided war. Our Constitution works, and so does the FISA court. By working with Congress and respecting our courts, I will provide our intelligence and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to track and take out the terrorists without undermining our Constitution and our freedom.

My Administration will once again show the world that we are not a country that ships prisoners in the dead of night to be tortured in far off countries. That we are not a country that runs prisons which lock people away without ever telling them why they are there or what they are charged with. When I am President, America will reject torture without exception. I will also reject indefinite imprisonment without trial and close Guantanamo, reject the Military Commissions Act, and adhere to the Geneva Conventions.

Our Constitution is not a nuisance. It is the foundation of our democracy. I applaud the work you have done to restore our Constitution to its proper place in our government. And I will continue to fight against the assault on our nation’s most treasured document.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama

FWIW, my request was specifically that he stand with Senator Dodd and fully participate in efforts to block any legislation that would grant telecom immunity. My request was he invoke the full array of privileges afforded to him as a member of the Senate to accomplish this goal.

The answer lies in more and better Democrats. We didn't get into this fix in just 7 years, and we won't get out of it in one general election.

All of this happened, I might add, without a peep of informed protest by anyone who wasn't immediately marginalized by those who were too busy feeding it to think about what they were creating. If you believe otherwise, just let me ask you one question: What is Noam Chomsky's reputation in the country today, or Jimmy Carter's, or the Friends of the Earth? All of them tried to warn us in the seventies, however timidly, that the end game was approaching. We opted for Morning in America instead. -W. Timberman

True enough, William. I'd like to opt out of that we, but my voice in opposition clearly wasn't exercised loudly or influentially enough.

I will throw everything I can into this FISA fight, because I genuinely believe that if telecom immunity is granted, and the blanket or basket warrants for wiretapping is passed into law, it will be neigh impossible to back our way out. Or, at least, it won't happen in my lifetime.

After that, there is nothing left to do but grind forward doing a much better job of promoting and supporting candidates (for all levels of office) who have better internalized the principles of this republic. The netroots have offered us a way to find those more better Democrats and a means for crossing state lines to help them get elected. How many of us have contributed through Act Blue?

We (using the collective designation) elected the folks we have now. Whether by dint of the media pre-selecting the candidates for us, failing to encourage and support the candidacies of others who would have been better, or failing to educate and influence those in our immediate circles; it's now in the past. What matters is how we choose to go forward.

I do. not. like. the road I see ahead, but I like the alternative less.

For those who haven't seen it, letter writer pow wow has a really informative comment on about page 17 of the previous thread.

pow wow's comment on this thread is equally informative. The previous one, however, is also worth your time.

From Matt Stoller at Open Left:

Credo Action (formerly Working Assets) has shut down the email servers of Presidential candidates John McCain, Barack Obama, and John Edwards by sending 56,325 emails based on this action alert yesterday on retroactive immunity. Meanwhile, Glenn Greenwald mocks Congressional Democrats for acting like losers, yet again, and allowing Bush to ignore their subpoenas with no consequences.

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3377