The contrast between his own public pronouncements in response to the moronic would-be voter in Lakeville, Minnesota and the comments emanating from the mouth of his embarrassing vice-presidential selection, Sarah Palin, would be enough to lead most thinking voters to conclude that John McCain either is rudderless or duplicitous in his campaign for President. But Senator McCain has opted to make the point even clear enough for his own base to see through.
As Senator McCain aides rushed to get to the public the video of Senator McCain correcting a woman who does not trust Barack Obama because "he's an Arab," his campaign--not the Republican Party, but his own campaign--continued to run ads suggesting that Senator Obama is the very embodiment of the uniformed Lakeville voter's, and, presumably, many other Republicans' worst fears. The implication in Senator McCain's most frequently running ads is that Senator Obama, though not an Arab, is either a terrorist or a terrorist sympathizer.
While Senator McCain and his aides insist that they are turning the page on this disingenuous campaign theme--a theme that is failing miserably even by the candidate's own polling statistics--Governor Palin continues to tour the country promulgating the view that Senator Obama is in bed with terrorists intent on destroying the United States.
Fortunately for Senator Obama and his presidential ambitions, Senator McCain appears neither to have the inclination nor the ability to reign in his "maverick" (read embarrassing) running mate.
Senator McCain has only one hope for winning this election. And that hope is tied to a string of decisions that he must make at this point in his campaign to save what has been the most poorly executed campaign since the evangelicals hijacked the campaign of Senator Bob Dole. As with many of his campaign miscues, however, Senator McCain appears intent on riding this out without either admitting or correcting his mistakes before they cause his candidacy to become the least competitive presidential bid since that of Walter Mondale.
Should Senator McCain any longer care to win the election, however, there is one thing that he must do and do immediately. That one thing, of course, is to admit that his decision to cave into the demands of the Karl Rove-led faction of his Party--a faction that ought to be well out of favor by this point--was a mistake.
The conventional wisdom in presidential elections is that the selection of a vice-presidential candidate is a non-issue on election day, save for the possible influence that that candidate might have in securing votes in that candidate's home state. Sarah Palin's inclusion on the McCain ticket is threatening to add a corollary to that axiom, however.
Speaking in cliched generalities, stoking divisiveness, baiting hatred, and offering no semblance of intelligent insight on any subject, Governor Palin has made a caricature not only of herself but also of the McCain candidacy. While Senator McCain has made numerous and severe errors in judgment during this campaign, including his continuing attempts to position himself as a Washington outsider despite his nearly three decades in the Senate and his attempt to portray himself as a leader on the financial crisis while offering a bailout to bankers and financial firms most intrinsically associated with Washington cronyism that created the current economic turmoil, his gravest error in judgment was selecting an unfit and uniformed running mate.
For Senator McCain to mount a credible campaign starting in the final three weeks of the election cycle seems improbable, particularly given the ineptitude that has characterized this campaign from the beginning when Senator McCain failed to parlay his three-month lead in securing the nomination into voter support. But, if he is to have any hope of winning the election, the time for making sound decisions begins now. And the most important step, though only a first step, is to replace Governor Palin with someone known for understanding the economy.
One suspects that those hoping for a turn-around in the polls are not holding their breaths.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
Simple Solution to Credit Crunch
Most Americans, at one time or another, have faced some form of credit crunch. The response has been to seek funds. Some have taken on more work, others have opted for loans or handouts.
Today, the U.S. Government comes hat in hand in the face of one of the nation's most dire credit crunches. This credit crunch, however, is not the result of government largess, but of Wall Street fraud and gross miscalculation.
President Bush's response to the crisis, while finally candid as to the scope of the problem, is woefully short on ensuring responsibility on the part of those largely responsible for the current economic mess. Initially, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the man who floated into Washington beneath the winds of a $40 million per year Wall Street parachute, requested $700 billion in taxpayer money to bail out Wall Street friends and foes alike, with only the slightest of oversight of the disbursal and use of the funds by anyone other than the recipients of those funds. Even the President blushed.
Concerned with decreasing poll numbers, Senator John McCain road to the rescue, chiding Mr. Paulson for his initiative and calling for "change." When pressed during a meeting with President Bush, top congressional leaders, and Senator Barack Obama as to what ought to be included in the unprecedented bailout, Mr. McCain had no answers. All Mr. McCain knew was that he should not attend a debate in Mississippi on Friday without an agreement in place, an agreement that he hoped to delay long enough to postpone what is certain to be an unflattering debate for the Arizona Senator.
Ditto the Republicans in the House of Representatives. Clearly intent on attempting to portray McCain as thoughtful and themselves as opposed to a mess largely of their anti-regulatory making, Republicans in the House threw a hissy fit in a White House meeting on the bailout plan that left fellow Republicans embarrassed and Democrat Barney Frank ironically finding himself defending a cowering President Bush from members of his own party.
The White House debacle left Paulson pleading with Mr. Frank not to reveal the events of the meeting in public, the President looking anything but Presidential, and Mr. Obama looking like the most astute of the two presidential candidates offered by the two-party system, if only by default.
Sophomoric and churlish behavior aside, those debating the terms of what is certain to be a financial bailout of Wall Street appear close to what should be an obvious resolution to this fiasco. But they appear intent, as well, on leaving out key components and caveats to a successful plan.
Rather than requiring that there be no golden parachutes for officers of firms benefiting from this government bailout, the Paulson plan should require that
What this bailout would not do is limit officers' pay. By steering clear of this provision, the bailout plan would ensure that qualified and motivated individuals engineered the recoveries of the firms that we purportedly need to have recovered.
It's a plan that could work and should work, but, of course, it is also a plan subject to the whims of political winds. And that, despite the unlikeliest of marriages between the Democratic left and the Bush Administration, might mean that it is far more than that for which we should hope.
Today, the U.S. Government comes hat in hand in the face of one of the nation's most dire credit crunches. This credit crunch, however, is not the result of government largess, but of Wall Street fraud and gross miscalculation.
President Bush's response to the crisis, while finally candid as to the scope of the problem, is woefully short on ensuring responsibility on the part of those largely responsible for the current economic mess. Initially, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the man who floated into Washington beneath the winds of a $40 million per year Wall Street parachute, requested $700 billion in taxpayer money to bail out Wall Street friends and foes alike, with only the slightest of oversight of the disbursal and use of the funds by anyone other than the recipients of those funds. Even the President blushed.
Concerned with decreasing poll numbers, Senator John McCain road to the rescue, chiding Mr. Paulson for his initiative and calling for "change." When pressed during a meeting with President Bush, top congressional leaders, and Senator Barack Obama as to what ought to be included in the unprecedented bailout, Mr. McCain had no answers. All Mr. McCain knew was that he should not attend a debate in Mississippi on Friday without an agreement in place, an agreement that he hoped to delay long enough to postpone what is certain to be an unflattering debate for the Arizona Senator.
Ditto the Republicans in the House of Representatives. Clearly intent on attempting to portray McCain as thoughtful and themselves as opposed to a mess largely of their anti-regulatory making, Republicans in the House threw a hissy fit in a White House meeting on the bailout plan that left fellow Republicans embarrassed and Democrat Barney Frank ironically finding himself defending a cowering President Bush from members of his own party.
The White House debacle left Paulson pleading with Mr. Frank not to reveal the events of the meeting in public, the President looking anything but Presidential, and Mr. Obama looking like the most astute of the two presidential candidates offered by the two-party system, if only by default.
Sophomoric and churlish behavior aside, those debating the terms of what is certain to be a financial bailout of Wall Street appear close to what should be an obvious resolution to this fiasco. But they appear intent, as well, on leaving out key components and caveats to a successful plan.
Rather than requiring that there be no golden parachutes for officers of firms benefiting from this government bailout, the Paulson plan should require that
- those receiving bailout funds repay the funds within two years
- those receiving bailout funds repay the funds with interest no less than that paid by AIG for its own bailout arrangement with the federal government
- those receiving bailout funds pay a penalty for late payments
- those receiving bailout funds have their interest rates increase upon the making of late payments
- re-payments on the bailout loans be deposited in a secured, interest-bearing account and credited to the American taxpayers
- the government receive a one-third stock interest in all companies receiving bailout funds
What this bailout would not do is limit officers' pay. By steering clear of this provision, the bailout plan would ensure that qualified and motivated individuals engineered the recoveries of the firms that we purportedly need to have recovered.
It's a plan that could work and should work, but, of course, it is also a plan subject to the whims of political winds. And that, despite the unlikeliest of marriages between the Democratic left and the Bush Administration, might mean that it is far more than that for which we should hope.
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