The Measure of a Maverick, Pt. 1
Guess who finally took his finger out of his ass and stuck it in the breeze.
Rarely have I seen or heard a candidate do a 180° so quickly, and then act as though the skid-marks and the smell of burning rubber aren’t obvious to just about everyone. But then came candidate John McCain (circa 2008).
On Monday morning, as Wall Street was absorbing one of the biggest shocks to the financial system in generations, Senator John McCain said he believed the fundamentals of the U.S. economy were “strong.”
Hours later he backpedaled, explaining that he meant that American workers, the backbone of the economy, were productive and resilient. By Tuesday he was calling the economic situation “a total crisis” and decrying “greed” in Wall Street and Washington.
McCain’s sharp turnabout in tone and substance reflected not only a recognition that he had struck a discordant note at a sensitive moment, but that he had done so on the very issue on which he can least afford to stumble.
As economic conditions have worsened over the course of this year and voter anxiety has increased, McCain has had to work to counter the impression - fostered by his own admissions as recently as last year that the economy is not his strongest suit - that he lacks the experience and understanding to address the nation’s economic woes.
We could take comfort in the idea that a president doesn’t have to know much about the economy. (Or foreign policy, for that matter, but that’s another discussion.) Or at least he doesn’t have to be an expert in the subject, so long as he surrounds himself with knowledgeable experts, and heeds their advice. Much depends, then, on the experts the president leans upon, their agendas, and their track records.
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