Glibbs
Last year candidate John McCain declared the fundamentals underpinning of our economy were strong. I thought he was correct, but, of course, in a falling economy he looked out of touch, and was attacked by candidate Obama for the statement.
Now, with umemployment higher and the stock market lower, White House economic advisor Christima Romer has declared our economy is fundamentally sound, so it's good to see Obama has come around to my point of view.
But don't worry, John McCain is still wrong. As White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has explained, there's a world of difference between saying the fundamentals are "strong" and the fundamentals are "sound":
posted by LAGuy @ 12:19 AM
4 Comments:
If there were an academic debate, you might be right but political leadership is about saying the right things at the right time and avoiding miscommunications. McCain's statement at the time sounded woefully out of touch at the the time. Whether he meant to or not, he certainly sounded like he was saying "Hey- no biggie." Having a lower level econ bureaucrat make the point correctly (Despite our difficulties, the the basis for our system is not coming apart at the seems blahblahblah)in a lower stakes setting (not in the middle of crash when concerns seemed to be failing left and right every day) is completely different
and furthermore, on the titting for tatting front, Obama made similar mistakes in his first weeks in office when he talked up the crisis part without effective reassurance which I think they are trying to fix with statements like Romer's
I understood perfectly what McCain was saying--that underneath all the roiling, people are still working and creating value, and we still have a free enough country that business can continue. As for what politicians should say when things are gong downward, there's an argument in both directions. Herbert Hoover, when he wasn't busy raising taxes and tariffs, was wearing formal clothing and living it up, to help reassure the public things were okay. Was that the right strategy?
In these matters, success is purely determined by reaction it garners. No matter your understanding of McCain's words (I don't disagree thats probably what was meant), apparently most people did not hear what you heard and he failed to communicate effectively to public. Clearly Obama has had some rockiness and Hoover's place in history speaks for his PR strategy
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