Starting Gate: The "Broken" Economy
"Senator, what economy are you talking about?" It was the rhetorical question of the day thrown at John McCain Monday by Barack Obama after the Arizona senator said he believed that the "fundamental" underpinnings of the U.S. economy remain sound.
Coming on a day the saw the Dow Jones close down over 500 points, a complete collapse of a major financial institution and fears of more eminent crisis, it was a pretty good line to throw at McCain. The Republican candidate is laboring under the yoke of an unpopular administration at a time when voter's feelings about the overall economic situation of the country is anything but strong or sound.
As Democratic consultant Joe Trippi told CBSNews.com yesterday, both candidates are in a bit of a bind on the current crisis. "You can make an alarmist statement and trigger an even bigger fall than is occurring," Trippi said of the potential candidate responses. "Or you can go the way McCain did, which is try to help calm the markets, and be accused of not understanding how perilous the times are."
That tricky balance is much more pronounced for McCain, whose Republican Party has controlled the federal government for the bulk of the past eight years and receives much of the blame for just about anything that voters are unhappy with. Although he is calling for greater oversight over financial markets in response to the crisis, McCain and his party have long favored less regulation, as the New York Times points out today.
So it's no wonder that the Obama campaign is hammering away at McCain's characterization of the economy as fundamentally sound. They even have a new ad out today asking the question, "how can John McCain fix our economy … if he doesn't understand it's broken?"
A "broken" economy may make a good soundbite but is it accurate? More importantly, does if reflect how voters feel about their own economic condition? While voters universally say that the economy is bad, there's little evidence to suggest that they think it is "broken" altogether.
Obama's campaign is striking while the iron is hot on this issue. Each day spent on discussing the economy, the better it is a very good day for Obama. But in "talking down" the economy, does his campaign risk running up against some pushback among voters who don't agree that the fundamentals of the U.S. economy are broken? Or is it a winning political hand all the way around?
Around The Track
Obama is expected to rake in as much as $9 million in Hollywood tonight, reports the Politico. Tickets for one event are going for over $28,000 per person.
A new Quinnipiac University poll indicates a tightening race in New Jersey, with Obama up just three points, 48 percent to 45 percent.
Wall Street has given huge amounts of money to political campaigns in recent years but with financial crisis and other factors, that's about to change, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Sarah Palin pulled in just under $1 million for the GOP in her first big Ohio fundraising yesterday, CBS News' Scott Conrey reports.
© 2008 CBS Interactive Inc.. All Rights Reserved. Coming on a day the saw the Dow Jones close down over 500 points, a complete collapse of a major financial institution and fears of more eminent crisis, it was a pretty good line to throw at McCain. The Republican candidate is laboring under the yoke of an unpopular administration at a time when voter's feelings about the overall economic situation of the country is anything but strong or sound.
As Democratic consultant Joe Trippi told CBSNews.com yesterday, both candidates are in a bit of a bind on the current crisis. "You can make an alarmist statement and trigger an even bigger fall than is occurring," Trippi said of the potential candidate responses. "Or you can go the way McCain did, which is try to help calm the markets, and be accused of not understanding how perilous the times are."
That tricky balance is much more pronounced for McCain, whose Republican Party has controlled the federal government for the bulk of the past eight years and receives much of the blame for just about anything that voters are unhappy with. Although he is calling for greater oversight over financial markets in response to the crisis, McCain and his party have long favored less regulation, as the New York Times points out today.
So it's no wonder that the Obama campaign is hammering away at McCain's characterization of the economy as fundamentally sound. They even have a new ad out today asking the question, "how can John McCain fix our economy … if he doesn't understand it's broken?"
A "broken" economy may make a good soundbite but is it accurate? More importantly, does if reflect how voters feel about their own economic condition? While voters universally say that the economy is bad, there's little evidence to suggest that they think it is "broken" altogether.
Obama's campaign is striking while the iron is hot on this issue. Each day spent on discussing the economy, the better it is a very good day for Obama. But in "talking down" the economy, does his campaign risk running up against some pushback among voters who don't agree that the fundamentals of the U.S. economy are broken? Or is it a winning political hand all the way around?
Around The Track
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Obama is like a farse, I dont need
to be cool and cosmopolitan.
I am an independent and I will
definitely vote for the McCain
Sarah Palin ticket at least I
know what they stand for.
Posted by freemanswish at 10:14 AM : Sep 17, 2008
You know what they stand for and you still want to vote for them? They''re liars and run a sleazy campaign. The use of the name Hussein betrays subtle racism. I''m glad you don''t want a sophisticated country. It''s much better to talk in tongues, deny evolution, and ignore facts. Maybe we can revert to the Neanderthal age. Vote for McBush, who knows nothing of economics (his main advisor is Phil Gramm, who shares responsibility for the mess we have seen developing over 8 years with the lack of govt. oversight) and Palin, who appears to be a vindictive religious nut.
Posted by FetusandMe at 03:21 PM : Sep 16, 2008
I hope you''re joking. If those are the most important issues for you, God help America. The government doesn''t plan to take away your guns, unless you have machine guns or bazookas. You can''t have simple firecrackers, so why should you have assault weapons? And you forgot ***....
and fikle, he just bad talks
McCain which Im sick of negatives,
Bush, he would blame anyone, very
negative vibe, and very stuck up
attitude this is not what we need.
I gave up and decided Hussein
Obama is like a farse, I dont need
to be cool and cosmopolitan.
I am an independent and I will
definitely vote for the McCain
Sarah Palin ticket at least I
know what they stand for.
The problem?
Jeb Bush is a PAID CONSULTANT for LEHMAN BROTHERS, the company that collapsed yesterday. He obtained the position with Lehman Brothers after having Florida purchase BILLIONS of DOLLARS of Lehman Brothers'''' mortgage backed securities that are now WORTHLESS.
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Posted by dburfears
Jeb is indeed a "Bush". His dishonesty has caused untold hardship on the average Floridian. He got in bed with ''big insurance'' and allowed them to increase the hurricane deductible to 2% of the value of the home insured. Hurricane Charley caused $12,000 damage to my home, and thanks to Jeb, the insurance company that I pay $3000 per year didn''t contribute one red cent for the repairs!
The problem?
Jeb Bush is a PAID CONSULTANT for LEHMAN BROTHERS, the company that collapsed yesterday. He obtained the position with Lehman Brothers after having Florida purchase BILLIONS of DOLLARS of Lehman Brothers'' mortgage backed securities that are now WORTHLESS.
As Governor, Jeb Bush was one of three administrators on the State Board of Administration (SBA) that agreed to let the state''s retirement fund buy a series of mortgage-backed securities from Lehman Brothers that are now worthless. Jeb Bush also supported Lehman Brothers managing two funds for the SBA.
Jeb Bush''s reward for supporting his corporate sponsor? a "Consulting" contract with Lehman Brothers. I wonder if JEB will get paid as Lehman Brothers goes into bankruptcy? LMAO You bet he will.
What''s so surprising? Nothing really. After all, MOST OF McCAIN''S ADVISERS AND ALL OF HIS TOP CAMPAIGN STAFF are lobbyists or "consultants" for large corporations and the entrenched Washington special interests. So It should be no surprise Jeb Bush is right there behind McCain.
Bush/ McCain is the problem. McCain is as entrenched as Bush and McCain''s other Republican "thinkers" in the Washington problem that has gotten our country to this point.
------
ROFLMFAO
And who had been in charge in Congress since 1984 and President for 2-3 years? Republicans.
To blame this all on "Clinton" is a f''ing joke. I mean- COME ON! No one buys it anymore.
The Republicans are going to be turned out. They have been driving this bus for years and this is where it got us.
Done. Finished.
Gramm who was McCain%u2019s economic advisor until fairly recently. Gramm lead the charge to pass banking reform laws, including the landmark Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999, which served to reduce government The recent history of the bank deregulation which was heavily pushed and written by Phil regulations in existence since the Great Depression separating banking, insurance and brokerage activities.
Furthermore, McCain voted YES on the bill and Biden voted No.
Deregulation...which is a Republican political platform piece got us into this mess. Regulation will get us out. And in the meantime there is no money in the PIGGY (with or without lipstick) to give anyone, anywhere, anyhow any tax cuts whatsoever. It''s time to pay and pay and pay or harness our kids with the debt. Let''s vote for someone who didn''t graduate in the bottom of their class (that would be Bush and McCain both by the way) that has the smarts to get us out.
Now is the time to hold government accountable, vote out the corruption.