McCain’s Next Move

If I’m John McCain…”Given:

- The continued parallels between the state of the economy and my campaign
- The fact that I am a (say the M word)
- That I haven’t shaken up my campaign in………what time is it?
- That an Alaska ethics report concluded on Friday that that my running mate abused her power as governor when firing a state official, which must be extremely upsetting to her, and as I care deeply about the pain she is feeling, (my friends)…

I’m going to counsel Governor Palin to tell the American people that she has decided it best for them if she steps down as my running mate so she can clear her name (and become even more wildly popular as a wronged underdog, and free up time to drop even more ceremonial first pucks at NHL games like she did in Philadelphia on Saturday night http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/6053774.html ).

Unfortunately, as a result I’ll just have to ask Mitt Romney to become my running mate. While he’s thinking about accepting, I’ll share with him that based on the precedent set by Dick Cheney during the current administration, I will give Mitt the same level of executive branch responsibility, but for economic policy. I’ll also remind him that I’m 71 years old. I think that will help him to make his decision, on behalf of the country of course.”

Impossible? Never happen? Based on this election cycle, are you kidding me? It's money in the bank (ooops).

McCain Obama: Round 2

As McCain is down in the polls that I’ve seen, and as he’s got that fighter pilot mentality: likes to shoot from the hip (nominating Palin, “suspending” his campaign to help resolve the economic crisis), I expected him to do something else out of the (wild) blue (yonder), but aside from offering to resolve the economic crisis by letting families who are threatened with foreclosure renegotiate their mortgages based on the current value of their homes, I didn’t hear it. In fact, I had problems staying awake at some points. Too much Talking Heads - without David Byrne.

To me they both sounded like parents talking to children who had just awakened from a bad dream (seeing their 401ks drop like a rock); telling us what (they perceive) we wanted to hear: weighing the economic crisis against their desire to get elected and not let voters play kill the messenger with either of them. But we are in deep economic shit, and I thought they each missed one specific opportunity to gain an advantage, tell us what we want/need to hear, and take a true leadership role.

Someone asked, "What would each candidate ask the American people to sacrifice, to turn the country around?", and I kept waiting to hear the 21st century version of JFK’s “ask not what your country can do for you” riff, but instead each candidate continued to demonize Wall Street while tucking us back into bed with our blankies.

Maybe I’m alone on this but I think we the American people are ready to hear that we need to take our share of ownership for what’s occurred. Did anybody put a gun to our heads to sign those balloon mortgages, or to buy SUVs whose gas gauge moves faster than the speedometer? Doesn’t it take a crisis like this to galvanize us as a society?

I can only hope that while that question caught them both by surprise, it’s percolating inside the heads of their speech writers and will result in a quality response within the next 4 weeks, or at least during the winner’s inaugural address.

Biden / Palin: You Decide… Really

Lets take the FOX tagline seriously (this one time). The winner of the debate depends on what you were looking for. If it was for Palin to not recreate her role of doing an impersonation of Tina Fey impersonating herself, then she won hands down. You can tell that she got an “A” in her TV production classes and that whoever hired her as a TV Sportscaster in Alaska knew what they were doing.

If your standard was who would be better at leading the free world should our President (G-d forbid) become deceased, and/or if you were to judge them as equals, then it seemed to me - as an Independent - that you would have to be asked to take a drug test if you didn’t come out of the debate thinking Biden has a greater command of the issues and of the role of President.

Either way, does the result change the current state of the election? Was Palin able to stop the slide that McCain is feeling based on our recent economic woes? No. For instance, I don’t think he’s going to turn around and pour money and resources back into Michigan, a state that he thought was up for grabs that voted Democratic in 2004. I think he’ll keep those resources in Indiana, a state that voted Republican last time that is being threatened by the Dems.

The real issue is that we’re even having this conversation, that the two sides of our electoral coin are so out of alignment. That we’re as polarized as a country as we are right now. Our anxiety is understandable, based on our recent economic downturn, the housing crisis, the upcoming credit crunch, the lingering war.

My gut says that whoever wins, they’ll be able to play the white knight and correct many of the missteps of the last 8 years. If memory serves (and this is meant as proof that economic downturns can be corrected, not as a Party related statement), when Clinton came into office in 92, we were facing tremendous debt that was turned into a great surplus before he left. Once we get the economy (which is cyclical in nature) back on track, once we get cooperation and resources back internationally, people will feel less unsure, less anxious, and less polarized.

Then only the real cause of our discomfort will still be left.
How do we get the best of the best, our real leaders, to want to run this country?

How do we get subsequent generations of kids to want to grow up and become President?