Rand Paul’s filibuster placed serious and bipartisan attention on the Obama administration’s drone-use policies.

Keith Fierro of California State University – Fullerton offers his perspective on this dramatic political event.

It took a 13-hour filibuster from Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, but the Obama administration has finally conceded that, no, President Obama does not have the power to “use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on American soil.”

Talk about government inefficiency. The average American could have told you that in three seconds.

Sen. Paul brought the issue into the national spotlight Wednesday by filibustering John Brennan’s nomination for CIA director. Paul pledged to stop the vote until the White House answered his stunningly complicated question of whether or not the president has the constitutional authority to kill you in your sleep.

If anyone else were president, this would have been a stupid question. But the White House refused to rule out the option of using drones to attack American citizens until after Sen. Paul resurrected the ghosts of Jimmy Stewart and Patrick Henry on the floor of the Senate.

In the end, Brennan was confirmed and Obama agreed to answer Paul’s question.

Now what? A couple points need to be addressed.

… President Obama would not have used his power to blow a hole through your roof or hunt down and execute Ann Coulter. But why on earth did he feel that it was an option worth defending so vigorously?

Why did other Democrats not join Sen. Paul in his stand (other than the fact that most senators probably couldn’t stand for 13 hours)? Sen. Paul had one lone Democrat, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, speak in support of him on the Senate floor.

Fierro concludes:

..Republicans can’t afford to wimp out on civil liberties once a Republican gets the White House. Many liberals have already tucked away their beliefs on the subject because the president is a Democrat (except MSNBC’s Toure who supports drone killings because he doesn’t want to be racist). Democratic Senator Chris Murphy called Paul’s filibuster “background noise” (as opposed to the sound of missiles firing, which is more soothing). And MSNBC viewers are suddenly fine with killing American citizens without due process.Remember the good old days when the Patriot Act was the mark of a tyrant?

Thank you, Sen. Paul, for standing up for what is right, for making a 2014 Senate takeover and a 2016 Republican White House all the more likely, and for rejuvenating conservatives.