McCain: Custer Riding to Whose Drum?
25 September 2008It’s hard to be a hero, when no one wants you.
Imagine, John McCain talks George Bush into having a special meeting of just him, George, Obama (which will make him look like he is being beckoned), and a few Congressional heads, to sort out the big mess.
Only problem: it was already sorted out.
Then, a few hours late from his campaign speech at the Clinton Initiative in NYC, McCain shows up. Unfortunately, he has a whole new document in hand, that no one, not the president, not the cabinet, not the taxi driver, has seen before.
As Reid put it later: we had a deal, and then McCain showed up.
McCain NEEDS dissension, so he can look like a leader. He also needs an excuse to prevent him from showing up at the debate with Obama, where he will probably lose.
Most important, he needs to show the far right that he is NOT Bush.
So, decrying campaing politics, he uses Bush to call an un-needed meeting, while the real negotiators are doing really good work, then he shows up, blows up the meeting, blows off Bush et al., and — the country is nowhere, and he creates a situation in which he now can say that he must really skip the debate, because, thanks to him, there really is no deal.
In some races, there is a disqualifying behavior. Cheating, for instance. If this presidential campaign were a footrace in Somalia, McCain would be drawn and quartered.
Cheating is bad.
Now, there is a fraction of a fraction who will say that McCain represents them; fine. That’s democracy. There is always a fraction of a fraction who feel good about whatever the guy upstairs does.
In this case, McCain and his handlers are doing a great disservice to the country, in order for him to be able to separate himself from the leader he used to call this meeting, to which he arrived late. By most accounts, he then destroyed a deal almost done.
Did we really need, or want, McCain to go back to help with this deal?
No.
Is this an example of great leadership, or of really selfish manipulation? I would suggest, the latter.
3 Responses to “McCain: Custer Riding to Whose Drum?”
September 26th, 2008 at 5:52 am
The farce of it all
From the could-not-make-it-up department (well, the New York Times actually):
In the Roosevelt Room after the session, the Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., literally bent down on one knee as he pleaded with Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, not to “blow it up” by withdrawing her party’s support for the package over what Ms. Pelosi derided as a Republican betrayal.
“I didn’t know you were Catholic,” Ms. Pelosi said, a wry reference to Mr. Paulson’s kneeling, according to someone who observed the exchange. She went on: “It’s not me blowing this up, it’s the Republicans.”
And from George Bush:
If money isn’t loosened up, this sucker could go down.
Yes, Mr President. We could certainly see some disruption in the markets.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2008/09/26/16376/the-farce-of-it-all/
September 29th, 2008 at 6:51 am
Some info (xl file, 1mb) about the US banks that the bailout will target.
http://rnfc.org/ivey/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/us_financial_institutions.xlsx
September 30th, 2008 at 7:13 am
In the mists of sub-prime
As Wall Street and Washington come to terms with the torpedoed Tarp and the great Joe Six-Pack backlash gathers pace, it might be worth a reminder as to why sub-prime lending became so popular in the first place. More…
As Wall Street and Washington come to terms with the torpedoed Tarp and the great Joe Six-Pack backlash gathers pace, it might be worth a reminder as to why sub-prime lending became so popular in the first place.
To the annals of the New York Times, to this day in nineteen ninety-nine:
Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending
In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders…
Earlier that summer, in July, the Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed that by the year 2001, 50 per cent of Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s portfolio be made up of loans to low and moderate-income borrowers – up from 44 per cent at the time. The department was also investigating allegations of racism in the underwriting systems used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to determine applicants’ credit-worthiness.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2008/09/30/16513/in-the-mists-of-sub-prime/
More unintended consequences? Tim