Obama: Sen. McCain is a Little Panicked Right Now

Last updated on August 11th, 2014 at 12:01 am

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At a rally in Coral Gables FL, this afternoon Barack Obama accused John McCain of being panicked over the economy and being willing to say or do anything to win the election. Obama is starting to look like a candidate that is poised to take over this race.

Obama seized on McCain’s changing strategy on the issue of experience. “This morning Sen. McCain gave a speech in which his big solution to this worldwide economic crisis was to blame me for it. This is a guy who has spent nearly three decades in Washington, and after spending the entire campaign saying I haven’t been in Washington enough, he apparently now is willing to assign me responsibility for all of Washington’s failures,” Obama said.

He also pointed out that it looks like Sen. McCain is panicking over the economic crisis, “I think it is pretty clear that Sen. McCain is a little panicked right now. At this point he seems to be willing to say anything, or do anything, or change any position, or violate any principle to win this election, and I have got to say that it is kind of sad to see. That’s not the politics we need. ”

Obama highlighted McCain’s weeklong flip flop over the federal bailout, “It has also been disappointing to watch my opponent’s reaction to this economic crisis. His first reaction on Monday was to stand up and repeat the line he said over and over again throughout this campaign, “The fundamentals of the economy are strong.” The comment was so out of touch that even George Bush’s White House couldn’t agree with it.”

Here is the video of Obama’s comments:

This has been a terrible week for John McCain. His campaign would have been better served by saying nothing at all about the proposed federal bailout until after they knew what the administration was going to do. This whole week reinforced the idea that McCain knows nothing about the economy, and even worse, can’t be trusted to make a decision on economic issues.

The McCain campaign is panicking, because they know as well as anyone that if this election is decided on the economy, John McCain loses. This is why they attacked Obama this morning. If they are to win, they have to make this a contest about character, and portray Obama as the character that can’t be trusted. When they get off of that script, or are forced to discuss issues that aren’t national security or Iraq, they are lost. Obama is in a good position to take control of this election and keep John McCain on the defensive. Every election eventually comes down to issues, and this is where Obama will beat McCain.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association