My friends, get ready for Jimmy Carter’s second term
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.
October 8th, 2008 at 8:07 am
Take a look at Obama’s campaign machine.
Fund raising, Voter Registration, Enthusiasm, Canvasing.
I think you have you’re answer! A leader gets the American people on board, and the polls are showing you where they’re going.
A leader doesn’t pull a PR stunt to appear to be helpful, he pulls the strings from behind the curtain to get shit done, while exposing confidence.
I think we all know who fits that this election cycle.
October 8th, 2008 at 8:26 am
couldn’t agree more with your blog post - he had his chances, sarah had her chances last week
at this point, i dont like either of them - i’m going to write in Kevin Kline and vote for him - i figure if he can just pretend like he’s still on the set of ‘Dave,’ that would be our best case scenario at this point
October 8th, 2008 at 8:40 am
I thought McCain was supposed to be on the attack? Did he not get his nap or something? Depressing.
October 8th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Whatever happened to Obama’s birth certificate?
Shouldn’t he be required to prove he’s a US citizen to be President?
October 8th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
I thought it was decided some time ago that it would be more like McGovern’s first term. In any event, “aaaaaaaarrrrrghhhhhh!”.
Word over at HotAir says that Dean Barnett is in intensive care with his C-F. Get well soon, Dean!
October 11th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
This whole thing about Obama’s birth certificate is nothing , but an attempt by brainless Right wing losers to cast a web of suspicion on Obama.
This is typical of the right-wing (wrong-wing). Obama is an American citizen born in the US unless you want to take a star of the flag by striking out Hawaii?
Also stressing his middle name only makes it clear about the inner racism and prejudice “you” people have towards those different from you. It also shadows hate against Muslims. Tell me no?
Another ethnocentric muse of the right. When will they ever evolve their minds and simply grow up?