I am looking forward to the reaction from the nutroots who have been screaming all morning for a statement from Obama against the FISA compromise:

Under this compromise legislation, an important tool in the fight against terrorism will continue, but the President’s illegal program of warrantless surveillance will be over. It restores FISA and existing criminal wiretap statutes as the exclusive means to conduct surveillance – making it clear that the President cannot circumvent the law and disregard the civil liberties of the American people. It also firmly re-establishes basic judicial oversight over all domestic surveillance in the future. It does, however, grant retroactive immunity, and I will work in the Senate to remove this provision so that we can seek full accountability for past offenses. But this compromise guarantees a thorough review by the Inspectors General of our national security agencies to determine what took place in the past, and ensures that there will be accountability going forward. By demanding oversight and accountability, a grassroots movement of Americans has helped yield a bill that is far better than the Protect America Act.

Laughably the grassroots movement he applauds in this statement have utterly failed in their attempts to have any form of immunity for telecommunication companies removed. Although Obama pledged he will work in the Senate to have the provision removed, I am sure he knows that is an impossibility. The compromise which was reached was precisely on the matter of how to handle lawsuits against telecommunication companies, therefore any removal of that provision would void the compromise, dooming the entire bill to failure.

Update: That was fast, only about 5 minutes since the press release and Obama has already lost a vote

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Barack Obama, Features