Is John McCain Backtracking on Wiretaps?

The New York Times is reporting that an adviser close to GOP nominee John McCain says the Senator now supports warrantless wiretapping, which would signal a shift to the expansive view of the presidency championed by President Bush. Here is what the article says:

In a letter posted online by National Review this week, the adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, said Mr. McCain believed that the Constitution gave Mr. Bush the power to authorize the National Security Agency to monitor Americans’ international phone calls and e-mail without warrants, despite a 1978 federal statute that required court oversight of surveillance.

Mr. McCain believes that “neither the administration nor the telecoms need apologize for actions that most people, except for the A.C.L.U. and trial lawyers, understand were constitutional and appropriate in the wake of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001,” Mr. Holtz-Eakin wrote.

And if Mr. McCain is elected president, Mr. Holtz-Eakin added, he would do everything he could to prevent terrorist attacks, “including asking the telecoms for appropriate assistance to collect intelligence against foreign threats to the United States as authorized by Article II of the Constitution.”

Right now, other persons within the McCain camp have said that his views on executive power have not changed. This is what the senator said in an interview six months ago:

In an interview about his views on the limits of executive power with The Boston Globe six months ago, Mr. McCain strongly suggested that if he became the next commander in chief, he would consider himself obligated to obey a statute restricting what he did in national security matters.

Mr. McCain was asked whether he believed that the president had constitutional power to conduct surveillance on American soil for national security purposes without a warrant, regardless of federal statutes.

He replied: “There are some areas where the statutes don’t apply, such as in the surveillance of overseas communications. Where they do apply, however, I think that presidents have the obligation to obey and enforce laws that are passed by Congress and signed into law by the president, no matter what the situation is.”

Following up, the interviewer asked whether Mr. McCain was saying a statute trumped a president’s powers as commander in chief when it came to a surveillance law. “I don’t think the president has the right to disobey any law,” Mr. McCain replied.

Michael Vander Gailien over at Poligazette thinks this susposed shift has big implications:

This is relevant, because the issue of wiretapping reflects on a person’s view on the presidency, and the authority the president has. Bush adheres to a somewhat Machiavellian, or broad, view, whereas most Democratic candidates disagree (well, when it comes to the issue of national security, that is, not when it comes to the issue of ‘dividing wealth equally’ among the population, and so on)…

If McCain believes that the president has the authority to do so, it becomes more likely that he will function like a second George W. Bush in this regard. If McCain, on the other hand, says he believes it’s legal in an attempt to pacify the conservative base, it’s unlikely that he’ll copy Bush’s behavior in this regard.

And so, it seems to me, it’s important for Americans to find out what McCain truly believes. It should, in my opinion, be a major issue on the minds of voters.

I would agree. If McCain has shifted (or some on the far right would say, “evolved”) his views on wiretapping as well as on the role of the executive, this will spell trouble for McCain among moderates and traditional conservatives (myself included) who were appalled by this administration’s belief in an almost imperial presidency . While many people want a strong president, they also want one that will not only “defend the constitution” but uphold and follow it as well. Michael is correct that many will see this shift as an extension of the Bush Administration and you can bet your bottom dollar that the Democrats will now have ammunition to say that having a President McCain will amount to a third term of George W. Bush.

One would hope that this adviser is speaking out of turn and that McCain isn’t really planning on drinking the Bush Kool-Aid when it comes to executive power. While it might shore up his standing with the GOP base, it could be a problem for McCain’s base, that is, Republicans and Independents fed up with the right-wing. This would be a great way to make more dissaffected Republicans and conservatives in general become “Obamacons.”

You have the feeling that McCain is trying to please as many groups as possible to win the Presidency. Maybe he has changed his mind, but I get the feeling he is being pushed in pulled into making different compromises. To paraphrase a saying from a TV show, it seems that people should allow “McCain to be McCain.” Otherwise, he will be losing many supporters and I would be among that number.