During his lengthy interview with NSA leaker Edward Snowden, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams found time to ask if the wanted fugitive was an Obama supporter: "Did you vote for President Obama?" After Snowden refused to answer, Williams worried: "Did he disappoint you?" [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]
Snowden replied: "...whether or not I voted for President Obama, I was inspired by him. He gave me courage, he gave me hope. I really believed that he would be a positive force for the country. And I still hope he will be." Williams added: "You, however, looked at it, you were hoping he would reverse some of the Bush policies. You were quoted as saying you were disappointed that he did not." Snowden noted: "Well, he said he would."
Williams wondered: "And in your view, it worsened?" Snowden lectured: "It's been a logical progression. He's embraced some policies and he's extended other policies. He's not Bush, he's his own president. But the consonance in the policies should be concerning for a lot of Americans because he was a candidate that promised that he would give the public back its seat at the table of government. And he still has time to do so."
Following a clip of that exchange, aired during a live NBCNews.com webcast Wednesday night, chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd observed: "[Snowden] represents, interestingly enough, this demographic that we've noticed. Which is what? The eighteen to thirty-five year-olds – What is he? Thirty years old – who did think that, you know, Obama was going to be more anti-Washington, more transparent."
Earlier in the webcast, Williams suggested that the NSA should have been especially vigilant against a "perversion" of surveillance tactics in the wake of the Bush administration.
Here is a transcript of the exchange between Williams and Snowden featured in the May 28 webcast:
11:49 PM ET
(...)
WILLIAMS: I also tried to engage him in your area, Chuck, presidential politics. Let's play one last portion, his answer here.
WILLIAMS [TO SNOWDEN]: Did you vote for President Obama?
EDWARD SNOWDEN: I think – I think who people voted for is something that should be kept private. Now what-
WILLIAMS: Did he disappoint you?
SNOWDEN: What I will say on that is that whether or not I voted for President Obama, I was inspired by him. He gave me courage, he gave me hope. I really believed that he would be a positive force for the country. And I still hope he will be.
WILLIAMS: You, however, looked at it, you were hoping he would reverse some of the Bush policies. You were quoted as saying you were disappointed that he did not.
SNOWDEN: Well, he said he would.
WILLIAMS: And in your view, it worsened?
SNOWDEN: It's been a logical progression. He's embraced some policies and he's extended other policies. He's not Bush, he's his own president. But the consonance in the policies should be concerning for a lot of Americans because he was a candidate that promised that he would give the public back its seat at the table of government. And he still has time to do so.
WILLIAMS: Chuck Todd, exactly the point you touched on going into that.
TODD: I have to say, you know, it is funny, the – I thought that there was a part of what he said there – and when you look at what Obama has and hasn't done on this front, I think that he [Snowden] represents, interestingly enough, this demographic that we've noticed. Which is what? The eighteen to thirty-five year-olds – What is he? Thirty years old – who did think that, you know, Obama was going to be more anti-Washington, more transparent. And the fact is, something happens to these presidents when they get that first – you almost wonder, is it when they get that first briefing from the intelligence community? You know, Mike Leiter might know this. And I'll tell you-
ANDREA MITCHELL: It really scares the hell out them.
TODD: I mean, think about it.
WILLIAMS: Yeah, it's the Leiter's who come into the Oval Office and change these presidents...
TODD: They do.
WILLIAMS: ...in the post-9/11 era.
TODD: You can't help but wonder that. You can't help but wonder that.
(...)
