Seventh Inning, Score Tied
Polls are showing McCain with a slight edge over Obama, while Obama, I'd say, has a slight edge in electoral politics. So essentially it's the top of the seventh inning and the score is tied. What are the next three innings? The three debates, I guess. The irony is Obama originally wanted the minimum number to protect himself, but now they may turn out to save his campaign.
PS I hate to be so cold-blooded, but Wall Street's problems are probably good for Obama, just as a terrorist attack would be good for John McCain.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:18 AM
5 Comments:
Agreed. Oil's back below $100 because of fears of a worldwide economic slowdown or recession. That weakens the idiocy that is "drill, baby, drill!" Also, to the extent the "regulate, baby, regulate!" argument has traction -- and I'm with LAGuy that it's (almost) equally idiotic -- Obama's in a far stronger position to make it.
More broadly, a weaker economy makes people that much more unhappy with the current gov't. McCain has tried to yell "throw the bums out!" even louder than Obama, but it's hard to get away from being the Republican nominee in a country that has been largely run by Republicans for eight years.
I disagree. I think Wall Street's problems are giving McCain a golden opportunity to tie Obama to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and, by extension, to the potential costs to taxpayers.
Obama will need to tread very carefully with this one.
Could you expand on that argument? I haven't heard it elsewhere.
Glad to oblige, QG. Start with three names:
Penny Pritzker
Jim Johnson
Franklin Raines
These three people have two things in common. All of them presided over - and have been implicated in - the collapse of banking institutions connected to the current sub-prime mortgage crisis.
All three are also connected to Barack Obama. Pritzker is Obama's Finance Chairperson. Johnson and Raines have both been advisors to his campaign (Raines still is).
Add to this the fact that Obama has received more political contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac than any other politician (with the exception of Chris Dodd).
Finally, throw into the mix that John McCain sponsored legislation in 2005 to attempt to deal with the problems of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - which, interestingly enough, died in Chris Dodd's Banking Committee - and I believe you have the makings of a pretty good set of talking points.
Yup, that's a legitimate line of argument. Thanks for laying it out for me!
Post a Comment
<< Home