Today, Barack Obama accused John McCain of having a Katrina like response to the financial crisis. Later, while trying to deny this allegation the McCain campaign actually reinforced the idea by explaining that one of McCain’s advisors asked, “You are running for president. Can’t you do something?” That is John McCain’s idea of leadership.
While speaking in Detroit, here is how Obama described McCain’s response to the crisis, “That’s why his first response to the greatest financial meltdown in generations was a Katrina-like response. He sort of stood there. He said the fundamental of the economy are strong. It’s why he’s been shifting positions these last two weeks, looking for photo-ops, trying to figure out what to say and what to do.”
The McCain campaign, while trying to deny Obama’s characterization, actually helped to reinforce it during a conference call when describe the events of Wednesday. Here is Doug Holtz-Eakin’s description of the events, “At Hilton Wednesday morning meeting in NY, economic advisers “sent to him in very clear terms a message that said this economy is facing a great problem. The Pearl Harbor of the financial system is not an exaggeration. This is something that needs to get fixed. It needs to get fixed right.” One guy told McCain: “You’re running for the president of the United States. Can’t you do something? That was an important meeting. That impressed upon him, even more” the need to act.”
So by their own admission, McCain was not paying attention to the financial crisis until Wednesday, even though it started 10 days earlier? In that case, there are some similarities to Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina. Bush’s original response was to ignore the crisis, so was McCain’s. Then Bush did nothing, so did McCain. When the aftermath of Katrina became too big to ignore, Bush sprung into a flurry of belated action, and what I have just described sounds a lot like John McCain’s leadership style over the past two weeks.
Instead of making McCain look like a leader his campaign’s explanation makes him look even more ignorant on the issue than most people assumed. McCain had to be asked why he isn’t doing something by his own advisors. If he was a real leader, McCain would have been acting on his own, without having to be told to do something. He didn’t start talking to people back in Washington until after the crisis was at a critical point, compared to Obama who had been speaking with Sec. Paulson for over a week.
McCain is supposed to be the experienced leader, but more often than not he has looked like a shallow politician, who is more concerned with getting elected than making good policy. While the financial crisis is nothing on par with Katrina, McCain’s reaction does say a lot about his leadership style, or lack thereof. The wheels are coming off of the McCain campaign, and if the perception of McCain being unable to lead on the economy sticks, his chance of winning the election is very slim.
You are accusing McCain of waiting to respond to the financial crisis, when thats not even a requirment of his office just yet. He is not President yet. When a plan is presented to congress, or if congress presents a plan then maybe this argument can be made. Along with that, the same article and same argument can be made against Barack Obama. He didnt respond til either the same time as McCain, or maybe even later. McCain was actually going to call off this past Fridays debate, due to his concern for the the crisis…did Obama think of the decision to do something as reactive??? This article is completely bias, and is a very weak attempt at trying to tie Bush and McCain together, more than is realistic. If you are going to state this argument, then Obama has similar tendencies as Bush, for waiting to respond to the financial crisis himself.
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You are correct . Neither “candidate’ is at fault for not responding to the crisis with a firm answer to our predicament, but what you failed to mention, or you didn’t wish to mention, was that OBAMA was the one who called McCain, early Friday morning, to engage in an attempt to make a bipartisan statement.
Instead, McCain decided to pull his grandstanding, again, and chose to independently stop his campaigning, strap on his cape and fly off to Washington “to save the day.” No Senator McCain – Mighty Mouse you are not. You are proving to be nothing more than a weasel in Vietnam Vets. clothing. By throwing poor Palin into the mix, you have a cocktail for disaster. Selling his soul to the devil to win….He let his party down.
OBAMA/BIDEN ‘08 Our only choice to save our country.
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I wish people would read more. Obama held an financial summit with the financial advisors of past administration to layout the ground work for a plan to fix our ailing economy at least a week before President Bush made the call for a 700 billion dollar bailout
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Playing the blame game, and he doesn’t play THAT very well. Obama is useless.
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Maybe one or two good point(s) will come out of the currrent stockmarket slide and economic debacle created under Republican leadership by Bush, Cheney, and McCain
In the process of making a lot of Americans broke, it is a very effective way to lower the price of gasoline for Americans that can still afford it.
It also answers that question of what to do with all those SUV’s parked in driveways these days because of high gas prices. As people loose their homes and jobs under Republican economic guidance, they can move into those SUV’s and live there.
Two problems solved
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Democrats simply overlook the fact that they have controlled both houses of Congress since 2006 when the unemployment rate was the lowest in history and the financial situation was very good. Due to their “Help the less-advantaged, which is really another name for money distribution, the regulations came OFF the financial institutions and money was made easily available to those who could not pay it back. Look at Barney Frank and Chris Dodd. Dodd and Obama received more money from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae then most any other politician – But they simply keep blaming Bush and McCain and the stupid public buys into it. If Obama gets the Presidency then all you blind people who have your hard earned money taken away and given to somebody else, with a lot taken out for the politician, they you will get what you deserve.
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This problem start with Carter/Clinton.
The very people that wanted to Tax, rob
the American people created the problem.
You should research before opening your
Liberal anus like mouth.
Semper Fi little one
RVN 68-70
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The problem was not caused by Bush and the Republican. The Democrats controlled both houses of Congress since 2006. They relaxed the regulations so that people who could not qualify could get loans – now we all are going to pay for the Democratic who believe that “they” can help people by re-distributing money which they did in the committee’s controlled by Chris Dodd and Barney Frank. Dodd received more money then any Senator from Freddie and Fannie – Look it up ! So simple to Blame Bush for everything.
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Regardless the caustic, lying, dispicable comments and finger pointing that Obama chooses to direct toward Mc Cain, they’re simply irrelevant. Mc Cain is a leader. He is war heroe. While Obama wants to engage in ‘battle with innuendos, perhaps he should realize he is not a fighter. He only spars with verbal attacks. America needs a President that will NOT lie down for further terrorists attacks. America does NOT need to ignore or minimize the actions of those that want to destroy our country. It’s way, way past taking an Obama approach, which is nothing more than his arrogance in thinking he can change things by ‘talking’ or attempting to ‘meet’ with other world leaders. In the end, a man needs to fight for his country and his family when all else has failed. The financial crisis has been coming a long time and we can blame many of the politicians for being lax in their regulations. Lots needs to change alright, but Obama boy ain’t the one to get the job done.
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we can do the things
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