Obama said at today’s presser he doesn’t think so. Given, however, what we know of Obama, and his definition of patriotism, it seems reasonable to suggest Snowden is in fact a Patriot, on the merits of Obama’s statement.
Leaving aside the issues involving the constitutionality of the actions of the administration, of course.
Addendum: (David L).
Barack Obama denies that Edward Snowden is a patriot. It is an opinion, and Obama is entitled to his. However Obama also denies he is running a domestic spying program. Given that Obama is too stupid to understand what domestic spying is, I doubt that he understands patriotism either.
Is Snowden a patriot? I say no. Patriots do not defect to Russia. However, the interesting question is who is more patriotic, Snowden, or Barack Obama? Snowden revealed Obama’s widely suspected domestic spy program. In contrast the Obama administration consistently reveals classified information to booster the President’s sagging popularity. For example, we had no need to announce the closure of several American embassies and the specific source and specific means used to gather it. I mean Franklin Roosevelt never used his fireside chats to reveal we had broken the Japanese codes. Whereas the Obama administration leaked they were behind the Stuxnet virus. It is an open question on which side are both Snowden and Obama.
Son of Addendum: (Eric)
David, I’ll give you this…His going to Russia would have closed your case on Snowden not being a patriot, 30 years ago.Such a conclusion would be a no-brainer.
However, that world is history. I think it was Edward Abbey, who said something to the effect that a patriot should always be ready to defend his country against his government.
Consider the reality we are presented with by recent history; In an America where Muslims shouting “Death to America” cannot, by White House edict, be considered to be terrorists, but veterans shouting “protect the Constitution” can, and are, what we we have is a case where Snowden’s escape from the hands of the Obama White House, seem a reasonable course for a patriot to take. If we consider the un-american actions and positions of this White House, we must consider the possibility that disobeying that government entity, and revealing it’s dirty laundry, is patriotic.