Obama, McCain, and Bush on the Bailout

One of the central narratives of the general election campaign has been McCain's weakness on economic issues. In the wake of the banking crisis that came to a head last week, it's been interesting to watch the reactions of Obama, McCain, and Bush. Bush has been largely quiet on the issue, appearing for two minutes before the press to make a statement and took no questions. You would hope to hear a bit more from your nation's leader on this issue, but the silence is somewhat understandable, in the same way that Obama has largely resisted making specific declarative statements about what should and should not be done at this point. I expect him and Bush to refine their positions in the coming weeks, and I have no problem with that. This financial crisis is a huge mess, and there are alot of very smart people trying to figure out what should be done. As much as we would like to think that our presidents are economic wizards, they are not, which is why they surround themselves with people who are. However, what you do want from your president is someone who can digest the economic advice given to them. I suspect Bush and Obama are both trying to come up to speed on what is a very complex issue, by listening to their advisers and attempting to digest and synthesize what they're hearing. Some things are like that. Not everything can be, and should be, handled off the cuff.

McCain's response was the most interesting. His bluster on what should be done with the bailout, reinforced his insecurity on the economy. Knowing that this would be a big test for both him and Obama, McCain thought it was best to try to get out in front of the issue, which caused him to reverse himself several times within a 5 day period, recklessly call for the removal of the chairman of the SEC, and then propose a "commission" to find out what went wrong. This is not what a president does, as ABC's panel noted on This Week, but it is what John McCain does. For anyone who has been paying attention to his career this should not be a surprise. Much like president Bush in the past, McCain is attempting to mask his incompetency with his confidence. That's not the type of decision-making we need to handle the most pressing issues of the day.