Can Obama Rise to the Occasion?
By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Debates, Economy, McCainThe bailout deal has fallen apart, Washington Mutual has failed and John McCain may skip tonight’s presidential debate (update: McCain now says he will attend). But hey, at least it’s Friday.
I’m not easily flustered, but all this has knocked me a little off-kilter. The phrase “largest bank failure in U.S. history†is uncomforting, even though we all knew WaMu was not long for this world. And the sudden politicization of the bailout has me concerned that we are going to end up with a Frankensteined plan that only prolongs the inevitable disaster rather than providing the necessary struts to keep the economy standing. Then, there’s McCain’s bizarre and seemingly impulsive debate maneuvers. He’s not exactly filling me with confidence in his decision making.
Trouble is, it’s not like Barack Obama is providing some kind of 21st century, post-partisan path to economic recovery. I know he’s just one senator, but his response to this crisis has seemed reserved to the point of being plodding. Other than using the events as ammunition to fire at the Bush administration, McCain and Republicans in general, I get no sense that Obama has anything to add outside of the usual “the government will save us all†rhetoric the left has excelled at since the Great Depression.
I’m no economist, but I’m going to guess that, while the Great Depression may teach us important lessons we can apply to the current crisis, our economy and workforce is radically different than what existed in the 1930s. The New Deal is not new. I’d feel much more confident in Obama if he didn’t seem like such an old-fashioned statist in his response and ideas.
McCain looks ready to go completely off the rails. This is Obama’s chance to win over independents. But he can’t just play follow-the-leader here. He has to be the leader. Maybe if tonight’s debate does occur, he can show he’s made of more than recycled parts.
This entry was posted on Friday, September 26th, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Barack, Debates, Economy, McCain. 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.
September 26th, 2008 at 10:04 am
Let me ask you this…
The plan that Obama outlined early in the week is the essentially the one that had bi-partisan support yesterday. It took Paulson’s plan, added some meat to it and, again, it had support from a majority of Republican Senators. In addition, he took out provisions for a stimulus package because he admitted it could scuttle the bill. If that’s not leading in a bi-partisan fashion, what exactly is? I mean, it may seem plodding, but what exactly more are you looking for?
Meanwhile, 100 Republican House members came up with 2 version of their own bills, and McCain hasn’t taken any sort of position on anything except wanting to have a 1 hour photo-op with Bush and Obama.
But hey, maybe I’m not seeing some pieces in this puzzle that you’re seeing.
September 26th, 2008 at 10:33 am
He’s basically been swimming with the school this week. But my problem isn’t with his response to the bailout plan itself, it’s with the paint-by-numbers, Democratic boilerplate economic policies he has outlined on his website and has pushed for the entire campaign. I’d like to think this economic crisis would give him cause to come up with more dynamic plans for the future. Instead, the crisis seems just to be bolstering his committment to outdated ideas.
September 26th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Now, if I were using a GOP fanboy tactic, I’d probably say something like “What is McCain proposing!?!” but I’m going to assume we’re not going for the normal right left rhetoric.
So, please, what are these outdated ideas that you are so concerned with? What specifically is the problem with his proposals? You’re assumption is they are not going to achieve anything positive…why?
If Democratic boilerplate policies had been enacted in the past 30 years and had been unsuccessful, I would see your gripe, but we have been running under GOP boilerplate policies for that time and see where that has gotten us.
Now, if you’re complaint is that it’s not “new, bold and exciting” I can understand that complaint, but what kind of new bold exciting proposals have you seen out there form anyone? Is this really the time to be experimenting with something totally out of the blue?
I don’t understand what you want.
September 26th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Alan,
As you have proven to be bipartisan on many issues bandied about here, I’m having real problems with your judgment about Obama’s positions in these ‘bailout’ talks, especially as it compares to the circus that John McCain has once again bestowed upon this country.
It was presented across the board- and I’ve been getting most of my info from the gold standard of Wall St. news- CNBC as well as MSNBC, CNN, and NPR, and they all told the story of how a tentative deal was reached until J. McCain arrived there and, together with house Repubs, threw a monkey wrench into the whole bipartisan process.
I’m sure you’ve seen the time line video of how McCain, with his entourage in tow, came riding into town on his white horse, followed by absolute confusion in the negotiations, then the ‘No Deal’ announcement last night. How can you ignore that perplexing chain of events but yet be so concerned about Obama’s conversations with the press, which I felt were restrained from taking partisan shots at the President, and consider yourself fair minded?
With my own two ears I heard a Repub. Senator say that they were close to a deal yesterday, praising the Dems for bi-partisan talks helping to move things along. I went out after lunch, returning before dinner and the whole thing was in a bewildered state of confusion. McCain was the one who took extraordinary actions to ’suspend his campaign’ and the results of that, as Obama predicted, was to politicize the process and inject the campaigns into the situation. It was McCain who stood in front of all those American Flags and announced that he was coming to save the country and help move this process along. The opposite has happened.
If you haven’t noticed, the credit markets are quickly freezing up. Large investors have move hundreds of billions of dollars out money mrkt funds and into treasuries to protect their money, the Fed has already pumped over half a trillion dollars of liquidity into the markets, some of the largest and oldest Investment firms are bankrupt, and we still stand at the brink of total market collapse. But John McCain has received his photo op, so it’s all good !
September 26th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
So you’re expecting him to change his economic policy in the middle of this crisis? That not only seems unlikely, it also seems reactive instead of responsive. In other words, not very presidential.
However, Obama has already conceded that some of his proposals, like health care, may have to take a back seat while we weather this storm. And, as mentioned, he pulled the stimulus portion from his bailout proposal because he understood it could scuttle the whole thing.
Frankly, I’ve been impressed by how steady he has been throughout this entire affair, and that seems to be the consensus in nearly every corner I’m reading, be it Dem or Repub.
In fact, this from former McCain aide Craig Shirley…
In any event, food for thought.
September 26th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
BenG… how about a link to that video you refer to, please?
The “time line” of McCain coming to Washington, etc..?
Thanks!
–Ag
September 26th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
I have been repeatedly critical of Obama’s economic policies and probably will be so again — so I admit that I’m probably just having a moment of wishful thinking when I say I’d hope this crisis would lead him to evolve his opinions. I would have hoped he’d evolve his opinions no matter what the economy was doing b/c I think he’s old-fashioned.
Without getting into details (not because I don’t want to, but because I’ve been told I’m making dinner), I think Obama has an over-reliance on the government to initiate economic progress. There’s too much emphasis on welfare, minimum wage, etc. and still too much protectionism for me to feel comfortable with his positions. That’s not to say I’m at all comfortable with McCain. In fact, my increasing dismaty with McCain is probably why I’m hoping Obama might move closer to my side of economic issues. It’d would make my decision easier.