Saturday, October 4, 2008
Economy not Helping Out McCain
Recently, John McCain has been weakened by the faltering economy. John McCain has been attempting to paint Barack Obama as the most liberal politician in the U.S. Senate. With 159,000 jobs lost in September alone, McCain has been unable to get people to trust him on the economy. According to Michael Cooper of the New York Time News Service, "polls have shown that voters trust Obama more to handle the economy". Barack Obama associates these job loses due to the policies of the GOP. If the circumstances were different with economic turmoil during the end of the second term of a Democrat, more people would trust in the Republican candidate b/c the Democrats would be considered at fault for the worsening economy. At this point in time with only a month left before the elections, it seems that the best chance McCain has of winning will rely on his ability to portray Barack Obama as inexpierenced for the job.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Considering that neither one have strong economic backgrounds, I supposed that when pundits appraise these folks in regards to their economic aptitude, they are referring to their: 1) Ability to realize that they know nothing. 2) Ability to realize that they gotta get a solid economic team and actually listen to those folks.
Moral of the story, if Stiglitz or Volker say somehthing, listen to them. And yes, if they are being extreme, at least your consortium of other econ advisors should be able to point that out.
Although portraying Obama as inexperienced helps McCain, it certainly is not gonna win him this election. Obama's inexperience is well known and is not going to make a significant change at the polls. What McCain needs to do is worry about himself rather than trying to attack Obama.
In response to Samir's post, the thing is that both candidates actually do have advising teams consisting of some of the best economists in the world with the likes of Rubin, Reich and Summers advsing Obama (http://econ4obama.blogspot.com/2008/06/obama-economic-advisors-and-economic.html) and Phil Gramm and Arthur Laffer helping out McCain(http://econ4obama.blogspot.com/2008/06/other-list-mccains-economists.html).
Even Volcker and Stiglitz, who you mentioned, frequently give Obama advice on the economy.
The sad reality is that while the respective teams may be able to clarify obscure economic principles to the two candidates, it is extremely difficult to be able to express the many variables that go into an economic policy to the American people. (Also, the fact that McCain mainly offers the much of the same economic policy as the Bush Administration.)
What I find interesting is that the two candidates are being advised by the likes of some of the smartest and most competent economists, but aren't being advised by the economists who really know and understand the American people. Perhaps gathering the CEOs of companies like Target and WalMart would offer more pragmatic ways to relieve our current economic troubles.
Matt is absolutely right; however, the key is separating politics from facts.
Fact: There is a financial crisis.
Politics: Oh no, a bailout won't make my folks happy.
I agree that these guys have some the most brilliant guys advising them, but having the competency to at least partially understand what they are saying goes a long way. Economics is a pseudo-science, so it requires a nuanced approach.
My concern is that the president will/would/has already politicized economic fundamentals. Now that is obscene.
As for WalMart+Target, I cannot agree more...
I agree with all your points and am interested to see what happens tonight. With mentions that the economy will be the guiding factor of this town hall style debate, we better see some economic sensibility by the two candidates.
Post a Comment