The President's Measured Response to Criticism of His Secret Domestic Spying Operation

Deadline Poet

By Calvin Trillin

This article appeared in the January 23, 2006 edition of The Nation.

January 5, 2006

Since I am Commander in Chief,
My powers to spy or debrief
Are limitless. That's my belief.
So go somewhere else with your beef.
I'll do what I want when I want to.
Since terror is not like croquet,
The NSA does what I say.
Despite your soft-headed dismay,
My Nanny Dick says it's OK.
I'll do what I want when I want to.
Security trumps, that's for sure.
And I get to say who's secure.
And laws and court warrants obscure
My mission. And I will endure!
I'll do what I want when I want to.

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About Calvin Trillin

Calvin Trillin is The Nation's "deadline poet." He has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1963 and has written the syndicated weekly column "Uncivil Liberties" since 1986. He has authored many, many books, including Tepper's Not Going Out and Deadline Poet: My Life as a Doggerelist. more...
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