Unlikely: Obama claims, “The American people don’t have a Big Brother who is snooping into their business.”

Somehow, I am not reassured... 

Via NY Times:

WASHINGTON — Standing in the grand presidential palace in Senegal this week, President Obama detoured from his diplomatic mission to Africa to offer a message to his own constituents back home.

“The American people don’t have a Big Brother who is snooping into their business,” he said, amplifying his answer to a question about the hunt for a national security leaker. “I’m confident of that. But I want to make sure everybody is confident of that.”

Wherever he goes, whatever else is on his agenda, Mr. Obama in recent weeks has made a point of reassuring Americans that he is not spying on them. His statements are part of a carefully orchestrated White House damage-control effort in response to revelations about surveillance programs that have unnerved many Americans and exposed him to criticism from the political left and right.