Polling Presidential Power

There's a new poll out from the Associated Press and the National Constitution Center that shows "Americans strongly oppose giving the president more power at the expense of Congress or the courts, even to enhance national security or the economy." Which is certainly good news, but it doesn't mean there's deep public support for de-imperializing the presidency. As the survey itself shows, only a minority of Americans thinks our current, gargantuan presidency is "too powerful."

Which is one reason why there's been very little debate over presidential power in campaign over the last few months (I know, because I've been looking fruitlessly for op-ed news hooks). Even after the Bush years, presidential power is not a pressing electoral issue.

Last December, Charlie Savage did the electorate a service by getting all the presidential candidates to go on the record with their views on executive power. (Here are McCain, Obama, and Biden's answers.) But the voters don't punish candidates who break these promises like they do presidents who break a "no new taxes" pledge. If the voters did, the candidates would have worried more about flip-flopping on the wiretapping question, but both McCain and Obama felt they could do it with little difficulty.

So sure, around 2/3s of the respondents to the AP/National Constitution Center poll oppose further expansions of executive power. But how people answer broad, abstract questions about governance is one thing; what they actually demand from potential presidents is another thing entirely. If the rhetoric of this presidential campaign is any indication, voters continue to respond to the idea of the president as a combination miracle-worker-cum-national parent.

Barack Obama has, among other things, promised to hold back the oceans' rise, "end the age of oil in our time," and "create a Kingdom right here on Earth."

In his acceptance speech, John McCain professed humility, only moments after a video montage that suggested God rescued him from a carrier-deck fire so he could be president someday. And, judging by Rudy Giuliani's keynote address, McCain will bridge the Mommy Party/Daddy Party divide, becoming a all-purpose national parent: "And we can trust him to deal with anything, anything that nature throws our way, anything that terrorists do to us.... and we will be safe in his hands, and our children will be safe in his hands." He's got the whole world in his hands.

This expansive vision of presidential responsibility is incompatible with limited government. And so long as it prevails, we can't take much comfort in the fact that Americans tell pollsters they'd like limits on presidential power.

More bad news here.