Then-Senatorial candidate Obama in 2003 branded the Patriot Act "shoddy and dangerous" and pledged to dump it. He made the pledge in response to a candidate's survey by the National Organization for Women. Obama reneged on the pledge. Most recently, the administration sought an extension of the Patriot Act that was even longer than the one Republicans wanted. They gave it to him and continued the sweeping spy powers through 2013, ensuring that the next extension didn’t become an election year issue. History will say that the extension of overreaching power of the federal government with the combination of the Patriot Act and War Powers Act was promised a quiet death by a president who had solemnly pledged this on the campaign trail, we see that was not true.



