Despite an intense effort to distance himself from the way his party has done business in Washington, Senator John McCain is seen by voters as far less likely to bring change to Washington than Senator Barack Obama. He is widely viewed as a “typical Republican” who would continue or expand President Bush’s policies.
No longer able to remember his principles any better than he can distinguish between Sunnis and Shia, John McCain stands revealed as a guy who can be easily rolled by anyone who sells him a plan for “victory”. A McCain victory on Election Day will usher in a Palin presidency, with McCain serving as a transitional front man.
Democrats have warned that Ms. Palin, a first-term governor, is woefully inexperienced and is not qualified to serve a “heartbeat” away from the presidency. In her first interview for over two weeks, the 44-year-old mother of five struggled, when asked her views of the Bush doctrine, which states the United States will mount a preemptive strike against a looming threat if it deems itself at risk.
In three reports delivered to Congress on Wednesday, the department’s inspector general found wrongdoing by a dozen current and former employees of the Minerals Management Service, which collects about $10 billion in royalties annually and is one of the government’s largest sources of revenue other than taxes.
The classified orders signal a watershed for the Bush administration after nearly seven years of trying to work with Pakistan to combat the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and after months of high-level stalemate about how to challenge the militants’ increasingly secure base in Pakistan’s tribal areas.
The United States must acknowledge that its deep indebtedness is especially dangerous in times of economic crisis. The level and stability of American interest rates and of the dollar are now dependent on the willingness of foreign central banks and other overseas investors to continue lending to the United States.
A man remembers getting broken: that’s why Senator McCain fought the use of torture by the Bush administration. His condoning of Gov. Palin’s mocking of legal rights is appalling. Foreign policy be damned if you can score a God-fearing macho-versus-liberal constitutionalist point.
Growth rose, but so did unemployment. Productivity surged, but wages fell. Growth was fueled by reckless lending and borrowing, it created an illusion of wealth even as many Americans lost ground. Fixing that disconnect is the central economic challenge for the next president.
The bailout plan for the companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a seismic event in a year of repeated financial crises followed by aggressive federal intervention, places the companies in a government conservatorship, much like a bankruptcy reorganization. The plan also replaces the management of the companies.
Senator McCain argues that he will magically morph into a powerful change agent. But in his 26 years in Washington, McCain was better at lecturing about reform than leading a reform movement. Republican corruption and governmental dysfunction only grew. So did McCain’s cynical flip-flops on the most destructive policies of President Bush.