As the administration of President George W. Bush came to a close, Democrats predicted a much different approach to the War on Terror under President Obama, one that would not allow U.S. intelligence gathering to trample on civil liberties.
Instead, the Obama Administration has continued some controversial intelligence gathering techniques of the Bush years, alienating and disappointing supporters alike.
And that was borne out by Wednesday night's disclosure that U.S. Intelligence agencies have been gathering mounds of data about regular phone calls by American citizens, which was then followed by another blockbuster story on Thursday, that the U.S. has engaged in a comprehensive internet data mining operation with the assistance of major internet companies and providers.
The NSA phone data story disappointed a number of more liberal Democrats in Congress, some of whom had been cryptically raising red flags about intelligence operations in recent years.
"The American people have a right to know whether their government thinks that the sweeping, dragnet surveillance that has been alleged in this story is allowed under the law and whether it is actually being conducted," fumed Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR).
"The government's collection of millions of Americans' phone records is the type of surveillance I have long said would shock the public if they knew about it," grumbled Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO).
"Left untouched, these provisions violate the privacy rights of Americans and give the government too much leeway for abuse," said Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM), cousin of the Colorado Democrat.
The bitterness wasn't left only to Democratic politicians.
"The administration has now lost all credibility on this issue," wrote the New York Times in an editorial. "Mr. Obama is proving the truism that the executive branch will use any power it is given and very likely abuse it."
"It is the very sort of thing against which Mr. Obama once railed, when he said in 2007 that the surveillance policy of the George W. Bush administration 'puts forward a false choice between the liberties we cherish and the security we provide,'" the Times editorial board wrote.
In other words, it wasn't exactly what Democrats had envisioned when the moving vans took Bush out, and put Obama into the White House.
Both the NSA phone data gathering story, and a secret internet data mining operation by the NSA and FBI revealed by the Washington Post on Thursday, started six to seven years ago in the Bush Administration - and have continued on in the Obama Presidency.
On the Republican side of the aisle, those with more of a libertarian streak also expressed concern about the latest intelligence revelations.
"Such an intentionally general and suspicionless collection of citizens’ private data is troubling, to say the least," said Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) in a letter to the head of the FBI and NSA.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) meanwhile turned a quote around on President Obama from 2006 on the subject.
"Americans fought a Revolution in part over the right to be free from unreasonable searches," Sen. Obama said seven years ago in criticizing the Bush Administration, as Paul and other Republicans complained about the NSA phone data effort.
But while there was criticism in both parties, it was not an avalanche by any means.
The revelation of the NSA phone data operation drew a shrug of the shoulders from those on the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, as they said the court approved plans had stopped terrorist efforts.
"It has proved meritorious," said Sen. Saxby Chambliss, saying it had only focused on "bad guys" and not law-abiding Americans.
As for regular Americans, it was clear that some of those who supported the President on the Democratic side were not pleased with the turn of events.
"I expected a reversal of these outrageous breaches of our civil liberties!" wrote Rob from Connecticut on the New York Times web site.
"This started with Bush and I am outraged it is continuing with Obama," wrote one commenter on the Washington Post web site, where the comments piled in almost non-stop as word of this latest story emerged.
“The stories published over the last two days make clear that the NSA – part of the military – now has direct access to every corner of Americans’ digital lives,” said Jameel Jaffer of the ACLU.
As for the two major leaks in two days, the nation's top intelligence official denounced it in a rare public statement issued on Thursday night.
"Information collected under this program is among the most important and valuable foreign intelligence information we collect, and is used to protect our nation from a wide variety of threats," said James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence.
In an additional release, Clapper went to great length to defend and describe the phone data program; here is his statement:
As the administration of President George W. Bush came to a close, Democrats predicted a much different approach to the War on Terror under President Obama, one that would not allow U.S. intelligence gathering to trample on civil liberties. Instead, the Obama Administration has continued some controversial intelligence gathering techniques ...
