What made you expect that? It's not like Obama campaigned on the promise of reforming domestic spying or increasing+- transparency in government... OH WAIT A MINUTE THOSE WERE SOME OF HIS BIGGEST PROMISES.
No they weren't. Obama campaigned on increased domestic spying. His biggest promises were to expand NSA surveillance and increase the powers granted in the USA PATRIOT Act. He was very clear about this as far back as 2006, when he voted to give Bush's NSA additional authority and spying power.
Well, you have a point with his vote reauthorizing the Patriot Act, but I still think it's tone deaf to ignore the campaign rhetoric that Obama made during the 2008 election.
The two common definitions of "expect" mean confusion like this is unfortunately common.
There is "To look for (mentally); to look forward to, as to something that is believed to be about to happen or come;" and "To consider obligatory or required."
I "expect" the Obama administration to value the spirit of the constitution (using the second sense of the word), but I do not "expect" it (using the first). Many people also expected or continue to expect it in the first sense.
They really, really weren't. Domestic surveillance was one of the smallest, least talked about topics in Obama's election. Any, if we're honest about it, will also be in 2016. Hacker News is working itself up into a frenzy about it, but the country at large does not care.
A video being popular now does not indicate that it was popular in 2008.
Don't get me wrong, I know Obama talked about the topic. I just think that very, very few people voted on the basis of what he said.
That also applies to the 44% figure. Yes, they care. But come voting time, will they vote on the basis of the NSA or on the economy? I'd place a large wager that it'll be the latter.
Maybe this is an indication of how actually massively this is an issue?
If the fact that the nefarious actions of the US government are the major point of discussion on the main technology sites you visit are not a red flag to you, then maybe your worldview is what really needs this information in order to be better corrected.
