Great question from an emailer overnight,
Where are all the strong leaders when you need them?
I know where they weren’t, and that’s on stage last night.
McCain needed to do something decisive, to press Obama for the entire night. He had no coherent theme or message. McCain had some good minutes within the hour and a half. Clearly it was not enough. He just skimmed the surface of what could have been a great theme for him last night, words versus deeds. Obama talks about middle class tax cuts but has never proposed one. Obama talks about reform but has never proposed one. Obama talks about bipartisanship, but has never reached across the aisle. Obama talks about the housing crisis, but he never did a thing to prevent it. Rather than “just words”, McCain has a record of doing all these things, Obama does not. Yes, McCain may have mentioned this a time or two throughout the course of the evening, but it was not enough.
Here are two examples that stand out from last night, and it just so happens to be the first two questions of the evening. The first question was about the economy and I was floored by McCain’s answer,
I would order the secretary of the treasury to immediately buy up the bad home loan mortgages in America and renegotiate at the new value of those homes — at the diminished value of those homes and let people be able to make those — be able to make those payments and stay in their homes.
This is the kind of shameless pandering that I would expect from Bill Clinton, not John McCain. I watched the debate with friends who I share one thing in common with. Both of us live in houses we can afford. We resisted the urge to keep up with the Joneses and buy a McMansion. My friend asked a simple question, “Is he going to bailout all these jokers who make $200K and bought houses worth $800K? Why should they get any help?” Excellent question. They shouldn’t. Only those truly snookered by corrupt and deceitful lenders should get help.
Second question was about who they would consider for the all important Treasury secretary position. McCain said Meg Whitman. Good grief I thought. McCain likes to rail about greed, fat cats and golden parachutes. Who is a bigger poster child for all this than Meg Whitman? In 2007 alone, Meg Whitman had 17 separate stock sales of at least $10M each time. Let that sink in. Look for yourself. One other small problem with Meg Whitman as U.S. Treasurer, she has zero monetary policy experience. At least he didn’t mention Carly Fiorina!
McCain didn’t change the dynamic, move the needle, what ever you want to call it. This race is all but over as far as I can tell.