What a Relief: Our Trustworthy President Assures Us that the Feds aren’t Listening to Your Phone Calls (+video)

President Obama on Friday for the first time publicly defended his administration’s top-secret phone and Internet surveillance programs, insisting that Americans weren’t being directly targeted and that national-security benefits were worth the “modest encroachments on privacy.”

“Nobody is listening to your telephone calls,” Obama said, acknowledging that his National Security Agency was collecting massive amounts of data on Americans. But he insisted that the data included only telephone numbers and durations of conversations — and that there was no monitoring of actual calls. To listen in on conversations, Obama said it would require court approval.

As for the revelation that the NSA and FBI are also accessing the Internet servers of major U.S. providers, Obama said, “This does not apply to U.S. citizens, and this does not apply to people living in the United States.”

Obama was forced to address the simmering controversies at an event in San Jose, Calif., meant to trumpet his healthcare overhaul. Allies and political foes alike have battered the administration with charges of government overreach as details continue to emerge about its surveillance programs.

Obama offered no apologies, at one point brushing off the controversies as “hype.” He said the secret programs, originated in President George W. Bush’s administration, were subject to Congressional oversight.

Read more from this story HERE.