An interview with U.S. Senator Russ Feingold
Global opportunities
Global opportunities
basically left and you are sitting alone,” Feingold said with a laugh. “So it is a positive thing in terms of your effectiveness.”
The week before, the Foreign Relations Committee held its hearings on the nomination of Sen. Hillary Clinton for secretary of state and Susan Rice for U.N.
ambassador. Feingold was very impressed with both of them. “We had excellent conversations,” Feingold emphasized. “I know these individuals extremely well.
They are both very capable and very well informed. Sen. Clinton is a very strong person. And she will give the State Department and our country a very good
image around the world. But she is also very capable. It’s not window dressing, someone the people like. She is tough as nails and thinks very clearly. I’ve had
several meetings with her. She came and sat right here where you are as you are interviewing me. I’m already getting her input and she’s getting my input on
things like what are we going to do in Somalia and the situation in Darfur, Sudan and Afghanistan. We have active conversations going on and they have been
going on for weeks. So I am very excited that both of these people will be part of the foreign policy team.”
In the past, Africa has been almost the stepchild of U.S. foreign policy, receiving scant attention from U.S. policy makers. When asked about the impact the
having a president with familial ties to Africa might have on the focus on Africa, Feingold was very encouraged. “It certainly is an amazing and unexpected
thing to have someone with deep roots in Africa and Kenya become president of the United States,” Feingold said. “It actually puts a lot of pressure on President
Obama because the expectations in Africa are enormous now. But I think working together; people are realizing that to ignore Africa is foolish. Most African
countries and people have a really good attitude about the United States. And in a world where we have some problems, Africa is a place where we can really
build up friendships and good relationships. And I think that can spread to other areas like the Middle East. This has been a passion of mine and it’s almost
miraculous to realize that the president himself is deeply rooted in Africa. So that’s great. It’s going to be a quantum leap in terms of the work that I’ve been
trying to do for years where it was frankly pretty lonely and I was about the only guy working on it. I think it is going to be better now.”
While Obama’s ties to Africa are a plus, Feingold feels there are other considerations that make Africa important to U.S. global interests. “Part of Africa’s
importance is the economic battle,” Feingold emphasized. “Basically if you see a beautiful soccer stadium anywhere in Africa, when you are flying into a
country in Africa — remember poverty is deep there — and you see a beautiful soccer stadium, it’s always built by the Chinese. And they are not there the way
the Soviets were there. The Soviets were there because of the Cold War. The Chinese are there because they want the resources. They aren’t there because of a
world war. Stopping the U.S. from having military power is not their main focus. But they want access to resources. That’s good news, but also dangerous to the
African countries and for us. The other thing is the threat of terrorism. The threat of Al Qaida reaches into Africa, not so much Sub-Saharan Africa, but up in the
north in what is called the Maghreb: Algeria, Tunisia and that area and also in Somalia and Sudan. Al Qaida is operating. They are trying to expand their reach
and entry. They have pulled off more successful attacks on people in that region than in almost anywhere else in the world in recent years where we have been
able to frustrate them. I’ve been making this point. The threat of terrorism and the threat of extremism driven by ideology that distorts Islam is a deadly serious
issue in a very significant part of Africa. And I try to make it my business to be the most active member of Congress in trying to understand that. I’ve had the
chance to talk to some of the Obama people about it and they seem very interested.”
When asked what he felt the priorities of the Obama administration would be, Feingold quickly pointed out that it was their agenda to develop — in a way
observing the separation of powers. But he also observed that due to the multiple problems facing America at this time, they were having a difficult time
deciding what the top priorities would be. “There is no question that they have to do something to stimulate the economy,” Feingold said. “Obviously, they are
already moving on that. They also know they need to do something to reregulate this financial system. Everyone knows this thing went haywire. I’m very happy to
tell you I voted against all of those changes, which I could tell were just reckless. But the argument was used that if you don’t do this, you aren’t part of the
modern world. But he also has to act on the two things he said in the second debate before this financial disaster occurred that he would put on the top of his
list: health care reform and alternative energy, getting away from dependence on foreign oil. In addition, he has to make some serious moves internationally, in
particular, to follow through on his commitment to try and bring the troops out of Iraq in a reasonable and orderly, yet quick manner.”
While Feingold may defer to the executive branch in determining their agenda, it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have his own personal wish list of issues that
he hopes the Obama administration will tackle. “For me, restoring the rule of law and undoing the damage the Bush Administration did to the fundamentals of
our Constitution because they were lawless on many issues is important,” Feingold emphasized. “I hope the President — and I believe he will — will see to it that
in some way we restore the balance that our founders intended. So those are just some of the things.”
“I hope we will see the repeal of some of the onerous parts of the Patriot Act,” Feingold continued. “He will be able to reverse certain things that are
outrageous on his own by executive order. He has to stop torture. He can do that by executive order. He’s going to close down Guantanamo. Those are a couple
of important things that he can do on his own. I hope he will be open to fixing portions of the Patriot Act and the Protect America Act FISA legislation, which to
me infringe on the rights of perfectly innocent Americans. He knows it’s wrong. He voted with me on the amendments even though he voted on some of the bills.
He voted with me on those key amendments on these issues of whether or not they might use the pretext of saying ‘We’re going to wiretap this guy in Europe,’ but
the real reason is they are trying to tap someone in the United States without a warrant. That’s called ‘reverse targeting.’ Another thing is they have the ability
with this new law to collect every single international conversation or e-mail or text message that anyone ever does for any reason. There should be some rules
or legislation about that. Obama knows that. Changing that will require legislation. I’ll be involved in the Judiciary Committee, the Intelligence Committee and
others to offer those amendments again and hopefully the President will support them.”
Feingold has had connections with Obama since 2004. “He came out for an event for me when I was running for reelection in 2004 when he didn’t really
have a race,” Feingold said. “I couldn’t be there because of bills. It was the biggest crowd I ever had at a Feingold event. People went nuts. He was already
working it.”
Since then, he has had a good working relationship with Obama. “Barack and I have a very easy time working together because we have both been state
senators,” Feingold observed. “We’re experienced in legislating. And he immediately worked with me on a number of key initiatives, in particular, his most
famous legislation was a bill I did with him, the Ethics in Lobbying law. He worked hard. He stood firm when even some Democrats were yelling at him. He didn’t
just stand for the picture because truth be told it was great to have him stand there because all the press would come. He could have just done that, but that isn’t
what he did. He got into the weeds of that thing. Working together, we passed what everyone has said is the strongest Ethics in Lobbying reform law in history. I
just think it was a great experience. He’s honest. He has a good sense of humor. He’s a nice guy. And he is determined to get things done”
Hopefully, with this kind of experience of working together to get things done will allow the Obama administration to work hand-in-hand with the U.S.
Congress to get it done for America.
The week before, the Foreign Relations Committee held its hearings on the nomination of Sen. Hillary Clinton for secretary of state and Susan Rice for U.N.
ambassador. Feingold was very impressed with both of them. “We had excellent conversations,” Feingold emphasized. “I know these individuals extremely well.
They are both very capable and very well informed. Sen. Clinton is a very strong person. And she will give the State Department and our country a very good
image around the world. But she is also very capable. It’s not window dressing, someone the people like. She is tough as nails and thinks very clearly. I’ve had
several meetings with her. She came and sat right here where you are as you are interviewing me. I’m already getting her input and she’s getting my input on
things like what are we going to do in Somalia and the situation in Darfur, Sudan and Afghanistan. We have active conversations going on and they have been
going on for weeks. So I am very excited that both of these people will be part of the foreign policy team.”
In the past, Africa has been almost the stepchild of U.S. foreign policy, receiving scant attention from U.S. policy makers. When asked about the impact the
having a president with familial ties to Africa might have on the focus on Africa, Feingold was very encouraged. “It certainly is an amazing and unexpected
thing to have someone with deep roots in Africa and Kenya become president of the United States,” Feingold said. “It actually puts a lot of pressure on President
Obama because the expectations in Africa are enormous now. But I think working together; people are realizing that to ignore Africa is foolish. Most African
countries and people have a really good attitude about the United States. And in a world where we have some problems, Africa is a place where we can really
build up friendships and good relationships. And I think that can spread to other areas like the Middle East. This has been a passion of mine and it’s almost
miraculous to realize that the president himself is deeply rooted in Africa. So that’s great. It’s going to be a quantum leap in terms of the work that I’ve been
trying to do for years where it was frankly pretty lonely and I was about the only guy working on it. I think it is going to be better now.”
While Obama’s ties to Africa are a plus, Feingold feels there are other considerations that make Africa important to U.S. global interests. “Part of Africa’s
importance is the economic battle,” Feingold emphasized. “Basically if you see a beautiful soccer stadium anywhere in Africa, when you are flying into a
country in Africa — remember poverty is deep there — and you see a beautiful soccer stadium, it’s always built by the Chinese. And they are not there the way
the Soviets were there. The Soviets were there because of the Cold War. The Chinese are there because they want the resources. They aren’t there because of a
world war. Stopping the U.S. from having military power is not their main focus. But they want access to resources. That’s good news, but also dangerous to the
African countries and for us. The other thing is the threat of terrorism. The threat of Al Qaida reaches into Africa, not so much Sub-Saharan Africa, but up in the
north in what is called the Maghreb: Algeria, Tunisia and that area and also in Somalia and Sudan. Al Qaida is operating. They are trying to expand their reach
and entry. They have pulled off more successful attacks on people in that region than in almost anywhere else in the world in recent years where we have been
able to frustrate them. I’ve been making this point. The threat of terrorism and the threat of extremism driven by ideology that distorts Islam is a deadly serious
issue in a very significant part of Africa. And I try to make it my business to be the most active member of Congress in trying to understand that. I’ve had the
chance to talk to some of the Obama people about it and they seem very interested.”
When asked what he felt the priorities of the Obama administration would be, Feingold quickly pointed out that it was their agenda to develop — in a way
observing the separation of powers. But he also observed that due to the multiple problems facing America at this time, they were having a difficult time
deciding what the top priorities would be. “There is no question that they have to do something to stimulate the economy,” Feingold said. “Obviously, they are
already moving on that. They also know they need to do something to reregulate this financial system. Everyone knows this thing went haywire. I’m very happy to
tell you I voted against all of those changes, which I could tell were just reckless. But the argument was used that if you don’t do this, you aren’t part of the
modern world. But he also has to act on the two things he said in the second debate before this financial disaster occurred that he would put on the top of his
list: health care reform and alternative energy, getting away from dependence on foreign oil. In addition, he has to make some serious moves internationally, in
particular, to follow through on his commitment to try and bring the troops out of Iraq in a reasonable and orderly, yet quick manner.”
While Feingold may defer to the executive branch in determining their agenda, it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have his own personal wish list of issues that
he hopes the Obama administration will tackle. “For me, restoring the rule of law and undoing the damage the Bush Administration did to the fundamentals of
our Constitution because they were lawless on many issues is important,” Feingold emphasized. “I hope the President — and I believe he will — will see to it that
in some way we restore the balance that our founders intended. So those are just some of the things.”
“I hope we will see the repeal of some of the onerous parts of the Patriot Act,” Feingold continued. “He will be able to reverse certain things that are
outrageous on his own by executive order. He has to stop torture. He can do that by executive order. He’s going to close down Guantanamo. Those are a couple
of important things that he can do on his own. I hope he will be open to fixing portions of the Patriot Act and the Protect America Act FISA legislation, which to
me infringe on the rights of perfectly innocent Americans. He knows it’s wrong. He voted with me on the amendments even though he voted on some of the bills.
He voted with me on those key amendments on these issues of whether or not they might use the pretext of saying ‘We’re going to wiretap this guy in Europe,’ but
the real reason is they are trying to tap someone in the United States without a warrant. That’s called ‘reverse targeting.’ Another thing is they have the ability
with this new law to collect every single international conversation or e-mail or text message that anyone ever does for any reason. There should be some rules
or legislation about that. Obama knows that. Changing that will require legislation. I’ll be involved in the Judiciary Committee, the Intelligence Committee and
others to offer those amendments again and hopefully the President will support them.”
Feingold has had connections with Obama since 2004. “He came out for an event for me when I was running for reelection in 2004 when he didn’t really
have a race,” Feingold said. “I couldn’t be there because of bills. It was the biggest crowd I ever had at a Feingold event. People went nuts. He was already
working it.”
Since then, he has had a good working relationship with Obama. “Barack and I have a very easy time working together because we have both been state
senators,” Feingold observed. “We’re experienced in legislating. And he immediately worked with me on a number of key initiatives, in particular, his most
famous legislation was a bill I did with him, the Ethics in Lobbying law. He worked hard. He stood firm when even some Democrats were yelling at him. He didn’t
just stand for the picture because truth be told it was great to have him stand there because all the press would come. He could have just done that, but that isn’t
what he did. He got into the weeds of that thing. Working together, we passed what everyone has said is the strongest Ethics in Lobbying reform law in history. I
just think it was a great experience. He’s honest. He has a good sense of humor. He’s a nice guy. And he is determined to get things done”
Hopefully, with this kind of experience of working together to get things done will allow the Obama administration to work hand-in-hand with the U.S.
Congress to get it done for America.
By Jonathan Gramling
It was a gauntlet trying to get into the Hart Senate Ofice Building to interview Sen. Russ
Feingold the day before Barack Obama’s inauguration. People stood in line for hours waiting to
go through security in order to get their tickets to the swearing-in. And Feingold’s office was
humming with activity as his constituents wanted to say hello to their senator while they were in
Washington.
Feingold has a nice view from his fifth floor office, a symbol of the seniority he has earned
since he was elected in 1992. He takes particular interest in foreign relations, a committee he has
been on since he took office, particularly the events and issues happening in Africa. While
Feingold is the third ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, don’t expect him to
become chair anytime soon. Sen. John Kerry and Sen. Chris Dodd — both from solidly
Democratic states — have more seniority than he does.
While he isn’t the chair, being senior on the committee does have its benefits. “It’s rewarding
to be able to get in early on the hearings and being able to ask my questions before everyone has
It was a gauntlet trying to get into the Hart Senate Ofice Building to interview Sen. Russ
Feingold the day before Barack Obama’s inauguration. People stood in line for hours waiting to
go through security in order to get their tickets to the swearing-in. And Feingold’s office was
humming with activity as his constituents wanted to say hello to their senator while they were in
Washington.
Feingold has a nice view from his fifth floor office, a symbol of the seniority he has earned
since he was elected in 1992. He takes particular interest in foreign relations, a committee he has
been on since he took office, particularly the events and issues happening in Africa. While
Feingold is the third ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, don’t expect him to
become chair anytime soon. Sen. John Kerry and Sen. Chris Dodd — both from solidly
Democratic states — have more seniority than he does.
While he isn’t the chair, being senior on the committee does have its benefits. “It’s rewarding
to be able to get in early on the hearings and being able to ask my questions before everyone has