'It should not be an extraordinary moment when a candidate for president declares allegiance to the Constitution, promises to not ignore or flagrantly violate laws, talks about ending a long and draining war and vows transparency in the Oval Office.

Such is the sorry state of affairs after seven years of Republican lawmakers' marching in mute lockstep with President Bush into one policy disaster after another. Senator John McCain scored some points on Thursday merely by acknowledging how much has to change.

Mr. McCain said in a speech that if elected, he will end the war in Iraq by the close of his first term; work in "concerted action" with other nations to counter the nuclear threats of Iran and North Korea; and eliminate a tax meant for the rich that is crushing the upper-middle class. He promised to not "subvert the purpose of legislation," as Mr. Bush has done, with signing statements; and to not seek to create, as Mr. Bush has done, an imperial presidency accountable to no person or institution. "The powers of the presidency are rightly checked by the other branches of government," he said.

He also repeated his pledge to tackle climate change and promised to institute a temporary worker program and "deal humanely with the millions of immigrants who have been in this country illegally."

It has, of course, taken the threat of a Republican electoral disaster to inspire these promises, and there were troubling parts of Mr. McCain's speech, including his reaffirmation of an extreme right-wing approach to judicial nominations.

Still, we were gratified to hear Mr. McCain acknowledge the many abuses and failures of the Bush presidency and pledge to not repeat them. Now we need some sign that other powerful Republicans agree with their candidate — and we need to hear much more from him about how he will keep his promises.

Mr. McCain said he would achieve victory in Iraq by 2013, for instance, without a glimmer about how he would do it. The Democratic candidates know that the next president's task will be to extricate the United States from an unwinnable situation as cleanly as possible, not to hold out for an impossible final victory.

His promise to respect the constitutional balance between Congress and the White House raised questions, too. Is he willing to find and fix all the ways that Mr. Bush has undermined the Constitution and abridged civil liberties? Or is he just promising to do better?

Mr. McCain's record is not encouraging. His approval was critical to the passage of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, one of the most damaging pieces of legislation in the nation's history. It created kangaroo courts at Guantánamo and suspended habeas corpus, a prisoner's fundamental right to a hearing in a real court.'

(NYT Editorial)