First thoughts: It's still the economy
Posted: Friday, September 19, 2008 9:23 AM by Mark Murray
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First Thoughts
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann
*** It’s still the economy: The Fed, the Treasury Department, and Congress are all working together (throughout the weekend) to structure a massive bailout plan, and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson holds a press conference at 10:00 am ET to discuss that. Meanwhile, Obama meets with his economic advisers in Florida to discuss the economic crisis and the Fed-Treasury proposal. Although Obama had promised to unveil his plan to deal with the economic problems, he released a statement saying he was going to delay that until seeing the Fed-Treasury plan. “Given the gravity of this situation, and based on conversations I have had with both Secretary Paulson and Chairman Bernanke, I have asked my economic team to refrain from presenting a more detailed blue-print of how an immediate plan might be structured until the Treasury and the Federal Reserve have had an opportunity to present their proposal.” And, as the New York Times writes, McCain “is expected to lay out a broader view of his approach to the crisis” when he speaks to the Green Bay Chamber of Commerce this morning. This has all turned into an on-the-fly audition for the presidential candidates -- or, as Howard Wolfson put it earlier in the week, a challenge to see who can best answer that 3:00 am phone call.
*** McCain flailing? But you probably know you're not winning the 3:00 am phone call challenge on the economy when 1) you resort to saying your opponent is trying to reap political gain of the current Wall Street troubles; 2) you call for the firing of a guy -- Republican SEC Chairman Chris Cox -- who doesn’t appear to be the culprit here; and 3) your campaign cuts a new TV ad linking your opponent to the former CEO of Fannie Mae, when your own top advisers come from many of the troubled financial institutions (Merrill Lynch’s John Thain and Martin Feldstein, who serves on AIG’s board). Indeed, the McCain campaign has been scrambling to change focus slightly. It launched a Web ad hitting Biden over his remark on taxes yesterday. And last night, McCain took a shot a “risky” Obama, per NBC/NJ’s Adam Aigner-Treworgy. (“A vote for Sen. Obama will leave this country at risk during one of the most severe challenges to America’s economy since the Great Depression.”) But is this current economic crisis too consuming for all of these slight distractions to work? McCain's campaign knows it has to be on topic, but if they loosely change the focus to taxes or leadership, it gives him a chance on this issue. If the focus is strictly on the economy, then he's got problems. And this week -- clearly -- the McCain campaign has been off its game.
*** Some needed help: That said, McCain today gets some good news from Fred Hiatt and the Washington Post editorial page, who argue that Obama’s attack that McCain’s “always for less regulation” isn’t quite fair. “But the full quotation from Mr. McCain's March interview with the Journal's editorial board belies Mr. Obama's one-sided rendition. The Republican candidate went on to say, ‘But I am aware of the view that there is a need for government oversight. I think we found this in the subprime lending crisis -- that there are people that game the system and if not outright broke the law, they certainly engaged in unethical conduct which made this problem worse. So I do believe that there is role for oversight.’” More: “It's a reasonable question which candidate has been more attentive to the brewing problems on Wall Street and which has a better prescription for them. But Mr. Obama's attack does not give a fair reading of the McCain record.”
*** Missing In Action, Part XIII: Congress is now getting into the act but President Bush is still choosing to remain largely on the sidelines -- and more media are noticing and wondering why. He is the nation's first MBA president, so one would think he'd have a lot to say about this mess, right?
*** Dude, where’s my testimony? It might be a he-said-she-said matter, and the Democrat in charge of the investigation didn't help his cause when he talked about "an October surprise." But the latest news in the Troopergate scandal in Alaska doesn't make Sarah Palin -- who's promising to reform and shake up Washington -- look too good. We've now learned that Todd Palin is refusing to testify under subpoena.
*** Poll-a-palooza...: So many new battleground polls have come out in the last 24 hours, in particular new All State/National Journal and University of Wisconsin surveys. And we think others will be released today. This is the day that RealClear and Pollster.com earn their readers.
*** On the trail: McCain and Palin campaign in Blaine, Minnesota. Obama holds a “Women’s Change” rally in Coral Gables, FL. And Biden stumps in Sterling, VA.
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