Obama's Crackdown on Journalists

Citing an article by former Washington Post editor Leonard Downie, Michael Barone writes: "Journalists are being surveilled to a greater extent than before and are meeting sources secretly — a la Bob Woodward in the parking garage — rather than communicate by phone or e-mail."

The legal basis for this is the Espionage Act of 1917 ... passed during Woodrow Wilson's administration after the United States entered World War I. It is widely considered overbroad. Wilson used this statute and others to infringe more on civil liberties than any subsequent administration. Socialist party leader Eugene Debs was jailed for writings opposing the war; Wilson's Republican successor, former journalist Warren G. Harding, pardoned Debs and invited him to the White House. Now the Obama administration is using Wilson's legislation to crack down more on journalists than any other president since his Democratic predecessor of 100 years ago.

One would think a man purportedly as brilliant as Obama would avoid biting the hands that feed his fragile ego.