Bloodless Coup

Where the Candidates Differ on Homeland Security

The Council on Foreign Relations has this comparison. Looking back on the previous 4 years it doesn't look like that there was much that the president did that Kerry would not have done, nor is there much that Kerry would undo that the president has done (the implementation and renewal of the PATRIOT Act being a prominent exception). As to things that a Kerry presidency might have done that the Bush presidency has not - perhaps the best source for figuring that out is to look at the Democratic proposals to increase funding for various security measures that were voted down in Congress in 2002 and 2003. I'm talking about, for instance, the Democrats desire to greatly increase port security funding far above the amount funded by the Republicans, and Senator Boxer's proposal to outfit airliners with anti-missile counter-measures (I don't know how John Kerry voted on that specific proposal; a majority composed of Republicans, Jeffords and Zell voted it down).

To sum, given their campaign statements and their respective actions since 9/11 I'd actually expect Kerry to probably fund Homeland Security at a higher level than President Bush. But I would expect Bush to be more likely to insist on legal changes that strengthen the hand of the executive branch (and to go on ignoring Supreme Court orders to change the way he's fought the war on terrorism, as he has since the Supreme Court essentially gave him, the White House, the Pentagon and the Ashcroft Justice Department a pretty severe slap across the face and order to change their ways this summer). There is a fair amount of overlap in terms of what the two candidates will do, but there are also things one and not the other would do as well, and appears that in terms of adding new programs and focii to this fight that Kerry has more specific proposals.