McCain Needs to Rely on More than National Security
By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in 2008 Election, Economy, McCain, The War On TerrorismIn a recent interview with John McCain, Fortune magazine began with the question: what do you think is the gravest long-term threat to the U.S. economy? McCain could have answered such a question in any number of ways, but this is what he said:
Well, I would think that the absolute gravest threat is the struggle that we’re in against radical Islamic extremism, which can affect, if they prevail, our very existence. Another successful attack on the United States of America could have devastating consequences.
According to Fortune, McCain did go on to discuss all the various soft spots in our economy but isn’t that initial answer telling? Sure, it’s politically smart to lead off with your “best†issue and he’s not factually wrong to suggest that a successful terrorist attacks could devastate the economy, but boy is he in trouble if this is how he feels he needs to answer an economic question.
While it’s not always appropriate to apply lessons from the primaries to the general election, I think it is important to note that Rudy “9/11†Giuliani managed to go from leading the polls to not making it to Super Tuesday partly because his one-issue platform was severely lacking. McCain isn’t nearly so one-dimensional, but answers like the one above suggest his campaign may be trying out an “all the eggs in the same basket†approach.
Preferably, instead of making a nifty pirouette to escape an economic question, McCain should have good answers on the economy. He doesn’t want this to be an “economic†election but he can’t so readily cede the territory. There are good reasons to believe his less collectivist approach would be more beneficial to more people in the long run. He can’t win this election if he doesn’t at least attempt to make his case without seeming to dodge the question. National security is extremely important, but McCain can’t make it his only issue.
This entry was posted on Monday, June 23rd, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Economy, McCain, The War On Terrorism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
June 23rd, 2008 at 7:04 pm
I feel that he needs to tie the energy debate into national security. It’s in our best interests to get off oil dependence from the mideast and other not friendly oil producers. Touting nuclear energy, alternative energy and off-shore drilling will help him. While non of that is short-term they are all long term effects to helping us get off foreign dependency.
June 24th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Given that his own party would do their best to head off any of McCain’s energy proposals it poses an interesting problem. But it’s also questionable how effective a campaign issue economics can be for McCain since his main stands are to stay the same as Bush.