by Damozel | Obama's going to have to make decisions straight off the bat on domestic spying and civil liberties. As The New York Times so rightly observes, these "will test his administration’s views on presidential power and civil liberties." Is it wrong that a little part of me hopes he will hang on to them just long enough to scare the bejesus out of conservatives who happily ceded them to Bush? It is? Ah.
Well, that's okay. The real comic possibilities of a Democratic president with all Bush's (and Cheney's!) powers went out the window when Obama beat Hillary in the primaries. So I hope Obama will do the right thing. Anyway, here's where it starts:
When he takes office, Mr. Obama will inherit greater power in domestic spying power than any other new president in more than 30 years, but he may find himself in an awkward position as he weighs how to wield it. As a presidential candidate, he condemned the N.S.A. operation as illegal, and threatened to filibuster a bill that would grant the government expanded surveillance powers and provide immunity to phone companies that helped in the Bush administration’s program of wiretapping without warrants. But Mr. Obama switched positions and ultimately supported the measure in the Senate, angering liberal supporters who accused him of bowing to pressure from the right. (NYT)
Ah yes, I remember it well.
Said one hopeful San Francisco lawyer:
“I don’t think President-elect Obama embraces Dick Cheney’s theory of unfettered presidential power....So if President-elect Obama doesn’t embrace that theory, one would expect a change in the direction of how the new administration handles this litigation.” (NYT)
Some people---some very cynical people---believe that most executives are willing, shall we say, to trust themselves with unfettered power, even if they wouldn't like to see such powers in other hands. Those people think you shouldn't expect to see Obama moving in the direction of relinquishing any powers claimed for the presidency for the Bush administration.
I am not sure I agree with them. "Obama was one of only 15 senators who voted against the confirmation of Michael V. Hayden as director of the Central Intelligence Agency in May 2006, largely because of Mr. Hayden’s role as director of the N.S.A. when the wiretapping program was begun." (NYT) Oh, and "[a]t the time, Mr. Obama called Mr. Hayden a “troublesome choice” for C.I.A. director, and said he was “voting against Mr. Hayden in the hope that he will be more humble before the great weight of responsibility that he has not only to protect our lives but to protect our democracy."(NYT) I don't know what that means, but a humble director of the CIA is always a good idea.
Anyway, everyone's trying to ruin Obama's honeymoon by speculating on whether he will disappoint us.
I expect Obama to play both ends against the middle because that's what he does. He's possibly the most adroit politician to be elected to the Presidency since ol' Daddy Bird's day. I think he will "work with Congress" to ensure a "bipartisan compromise" designed to make the cowardy custards of the right feel secure and the brave civil liberties advocates of the left feel a bit less violated.
In an interview last summer, Gregory B. Craig, who is Mr. Obama’s pick for White House counsel, said that Mr. Obama believed that Mr. Bush had abused his power by authorizing wiretapping without warrants....
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island and a former federal prosecutor who now sits on the Judiciary and Intelligence committees, responded cautiously Friday when asked whether the Senate might investigate the program.
“I expect Congress will work with the Obama administration to assure the American people that their government will not go down this unlawful path again,” Mr. Whitehouse said.
In the end, of course, neither intelligent progressives nor ranting wingnuts will be satisfied with whatever he does. But the center---i.e., the disproportionately huge segment of the country that mostly doesn't pay much attention and makes decisions about things with its gut---will feel better that Congress has worked together to find a middle path. And Obama, whom we on the left love for himself---face it---will pour oil on the waters and then walk on them or something.
And things will be much less bad, if not exactly good. Which is change that I, personally, can believe in.
Memeorandum has more bloggering.
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