The Recklessness of John McCain

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http://blog.psaonline.org/2008/09/25/the-recklessness-of-john-mccain/

The recklessness of John McCain
by Seth Green | September 25th, 2008

Last week, John McCain was saying that our economy was fundamentally strong. Now, he’s in such a panic he’s ready to suspend his presidential campaign just over a month before citizens go to vote. Watching McCain handle the economic crisis, it scares me to think about how he would deal as commander in chief with hot-button issues of war and peace.

The problem is that McCain seems willing to do anything to act like a “maverick,” even in situations where we need a steady and smart hand. When every economist was saying we were in trouble, he said we were doing well and Wall Street needed no regulation. Then, literally hours later, after his advisors got a hold of him, he said we were in crisis and proposed massive changes, including firing the head of the SEC and building a new regulatory apparatus to deal with unchecked corporate greed. There was no thought process to get him from one side of the debate to the other – he just seemed to jump from one unusual position to another on the opposite end of the spectrum thinking these unusual positions would show how he’s different. Indeed, his views are different – recklessly different than the mainstream. Now, he’s suspending his presidential campaign because he thinks we are in such turmoil that a 2-hour debate would dislodge our economy. Is this the stable leader we want with his hand on the red button?

And perhaps what upsets me most about all this is that McCain never had a preventive strategy. Until Wall Streeters started losing their jobs, the economy was strong in McCain’s mind. Never mind the massive home foreclosures. Never mind the crying out from economists on our unsustainable debt levels. Never mind the job losses among ordinary Americans. Then, Lehman traders lose their shirts and suddenly it’s a full-blown a crisis.

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