A coalition of left-leaning bloggers ran this ad in The Washington Post, attacking House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer for shepherding a telecom amnesty bill through Congress.

Credit: ActBlueAn online campaign to scuttle a deal giving retroactive amnesty to telecoms that helped the government warrantlessly wiretap Americans is growing in strength, catching Senator Barack Obama between the Netroots that helped vaunt him to the nomination and a presidential campaign desire to seem strong on national security.

Last year, Obama won accolades from the netroots by vowing to fight against any bill that granted retroactive amnesty to the telecoms that helped the government warrantlessly spy on Americans.

But last week, portions of the netroots revolted when Obama changed his stance regarding the current version of the bill, saying that while he would fight against amnesty, he would vote for the final bill regardless because exanding the spying powers of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was necessary for national security.

Obama credied the netroots for improving the bill.

"By demanding oversight and accountability, a grassroots movement of Americans has helped yield a bill that is far better than the Protect America Act," Obama said in a written statement last week.

Those changes and words weren't enough for some his supporters, who created an action group on my.barackobama.com called "Senator Obama - Please Vote No on Telecom Immunity."

That's the senator's own site to motivate supporters to create groups that can take action on their own.

Though just created on June 25, it has quickly grown to quickly grown to being the fifth largest out of more than 7,000 groups, with more than 4,700 members as of Monday morning. That's just one place short of the Women for Obama group.

Len in Indy summed up the groups sentiment in an open letter to Obama on the group's blog, writing:

I have worked for your nomination and voted for you, as I did when I lived in Illinois. This has been the election I have been waiting for - one about hope and about change. I do hope I am right about change. I understand politics and the need to compromise,[...] However, there must be some point, there must be some principles, there must be some line that you do not cross. In my view, the new FISA bill is that. It is a simple attempt to camouflage the spineless response of a Democratic congress that is afraid to stand up to the President on civil liberties and is happy to allow any corporation to be blameless for violating our basic rights. So, I ask myself, why would Senator Obama and the other Democrats cave in to the President. The answer that comes to mind most quickly is the "politics of fear". Are you afraid of being labeled "soft on terrorism"?

A quick survey of the members shows that many of them are new to the Obama site, and were likely motivated to create a profile due to posts at prominent left-leaning blogs Talking Points Memo, Open Left and Daily Kos. But the list of members also includes some of the most influential Netroots bloggers including Matt Stoller and Jerome Armstrong.

Meanwhile prominent lefty blogger Glenn Greenwald and Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake, along with other lefty bloggers and libertarian-leaning fellow anti-immunity travelers, have raised more than $325,000 to fight the FISA bill.

Their Blue America PAC is already targeting House Democrats who voted for the bill, including placing a full-page ad in The Washington Post slamming House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, who claimed credit for creating the so-called compromise bill. The coalition plans to follow-up with a Ron Paul-style money bomb, which will be used to target key senators, according to Greenwald.

The Senate is set to take up the bill, along with a few amendments to limit or strike the amnesty clause, on July 8. The bill is widely expected to pass, and in February, similar amendments to strip or limit the immunity failed to pass.

That leaves a little more than a week to see how Obama, now one of the leaders of his party, responds to the new technological revolution in politics that he has championed.

As OpenLeft contributor Mike Stark writes:

The really cool thing about all of this technology? It is exactly what Barack Obama wants to see happen; it comports perfectly with his vision of an engaged electorate. Over and over again on the campaign trail, Obama has talked about what YOU have done. He aspires to represent "we, the people" and consistently disparages the old system of lobbyist-fueled special interest politics. So... If you want to be the change you desire, take a few seconds, visit this group and sign up. It'll provide Barack Obama with an unprecedented opportunity to lead by listening to the people.

The Obama campaign did not return a call seeking comment.

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