For me, this campaign is about which candidate will do the least long term harm to the country.
It's very clear to me that means John McCain, despite my basic distrust of his conservative credentials and lack of respect for his intellect.
Thus, this morning's interview did not exactly display McCain's greatest strengths. He's really a little fuzzy on detailed economics. Sarah Palin, on the other hand, is razor sharp.
The CNBC on-air head asked the two directly, 'what would you do, if elected, about the country's current financial and economic situation,' or a question to that effect.
What McCain said was not memorable. And, honestly, that's inexcusable. To sit down for a live interview with a self-proclaimed, if not actually competent, business correspondent, on a business entertainment channel, and not have that answer canned and ready, is just jaw-droppingly inexcusable.
Especially at this late date in the campaign.
Instead of McCain's meandering reply, here is how I think he should have responded,
"Maria, I've thought about this question a lot. It's got to be one of the most important ones on the minds of most Americans this fall.
First, let's understand that in America, government does not create lasting, meaningful jobs in a direct fashion. Government sets terms and conditions for how business operates, it manages the money supply and overall environment of laws and regulation.
But we, as a society, must live with our mistakes. Just because the economic and financial aspects of our society became carried away with risk-taking, risky borrowing for unaffordable homes, and spending, does not mean that the same society, through our government, can wave a magic wand and make all the subsequent pain simply vanish.
The best thing that government can do in this situation- and what Sarah Palin and I will do when elected- is to lower taxes and cut non-essential spending while stabilizing the financial system and softening the effects of unavoidable job losses in the coming recession.
Now, I know my opponent is promising all sorts of new spending to solve all of our economic ills. I also know that your network, Maria, is a subsidiary of a very liberal, left-leaning network, NBC, which by its nature expects socialistic and big-government answers from Presidential candidates. Even your network's own 'political correspondent,' John Harwood, is also a writer for the very-liberal New York Times.
So the very nature of your opening question suggests that government must 'do something' to solve our current economic ills.
How can one person- any one person- simply 'solve' an entire society's and culture's dive into the deep end of the pool of risk-taking and financial excess?
It can't.
In fact, your own Congress- Republicans and Democrats, but mostly Democrats- have fostered a culture of risk-taking and entitlement in our federal government that makes it harder for individual citizens to take responsibility for their own actions.
What will Sarah and I do when elected to remedy the nation's economic and financial ills?
In short, we'll focus on our entire society's- government, businesses and individuals- spree of over-spending, reckless opportunism, over-borrowing and dependence upon government assistance.
And I will, although it should have been done in August of last year, sign an executive order modifying 'mark to market' rules so that performing structured securities can be valued for their long term economic potential, rather than at any particular moment's market- or lack thereof- value.
I will also immediately move to close or completely privatize Fannie and Freddie,. I will also sign an executive order suspending the CRA.
Government should not be telling banks which loans to make, nor using taxpayer money to subsidize bad mortgage loans and then securitize them to the rest of the world.
We can't simply spend or regulate our way to a magic, painless solution. But we can- and will- lead our nation to more reasonable, sane and responsible behavior.
Frankly, economies go through booms and busts, growth and recession. That was going to happen even before the current financial crisis first broke into view with the failure of the two Bear Stearns hedge funds in the summer of 2007.
Sarah and I will work to reform and moderate our recent culture of overly-opportunistic behavior, part of which has shown itself in the current economic ills of our nation."
Such an answer would have shown McCain to comprehend the totality of the current mess, while clearly distinguishing himself from his opponent by not promising that he, alone, could somehow fix it and remove all painful consequences of the past few years' mistakes.
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