A group of bloggers sat down for another conference call with Libertarian candidate for president, Bob Barr, his campaign manager Russ Verney, and staff members today. I’ll begin with some initial impressions. Bob Barr is one of the most refreshing faces in politics today in terms of interviews. Reporters who continue to be frustrated and annoyed by the major party candidates (who constantly seem to answer each and every question by falling back on one of the same half dozen canned talking points) would have a far better time of it with Barr. Bob fires from the hip and takes on any issue tossed his way with brutal honesty and none of the repetitive, focus group tested, robotic answers. If his campaign finds a way to get him behind a podium next to Obama and McCain in the debates this fall, I believe you’ll see some surprises in the polls during the following week.
As the call began, the Barr team updated us on ballot access. Barr is officially on the ballot in 34 states and they still feel they are on track to get on in 49 states. Oklahoma remains a sticking point, but the campaign has a lawsuit pending there challenging the state’s draconian ballot requirements. (Oklahoma requires the highest per capita number of signatures of any state at 3% of the last election’s turnout. This means you need roughly 43,000 signatures to be on the ballot this year.) On to the questions!
The candidate was asked what his priorities would be for the first 100 days of a Barr presidency. The following are the bullet points.
– Reduction of the size of government in cooperation with Congress
– Repeal of the FISA wiretapping bill
– A freeze on any and all legislation which would raise the debt ceiling, or increase the budget of any government office, department or program above current levels
– A “Grace Commission on steroids” to review the constitutional validity of every agency, office or department. Cost benefit studies for each would also be conducted
– Meet with military leaders regarding all locations where US forces are stationed abroad, producing an assessment of their viability and options for reductions.
What would be our future in Afghanistan? Barr has never been precisely sure what George W. Bush’s goals were in Afghanistan. Bob would meet with military and civilian leaders to determine the precise goals we might accomplish there, with an eye toward achieving those goals with less forces, more and better intelligence, and a less massive military footprint.
On the issue of transparency in government, Barr assures us that we will have more than has been seen with any administration in recent history. This will start with the Department of Justice, which Barr notes now has a lower level of public trust than any other department. (The Post Office supposedly enjoys a four to one advantage in public trust over the DOJ.)
I asked Bob about his view on presidential signing statements. He let us know that they would be used very sparingly in a Barr administration, and that they are not a constitutionally valid vehicle for a president to ignore legislation passed by Congress. If the bill is that bad, you need to just veto it.
The candidate was asked his opinion of the Congressional Republicans who have been holding meetings in the dark – after the Democrats were long gone – to push for a new energy policy and a decision on drilling. Barr told us that he appreciates Bush’s decision to life the executive ban on drilling, but wonders where he’s been for the last seven years on this subject. Similarly, he thinks that the timing of the GOP’s actions in Congress is “suspect” but applauds their efforts while wondering where they have been for seven years.
All in all, another good Q&A session with Barr and we expect to hear more from them in the future.