Leaders & would-be leaders fail in bailout
George Bush, Barack Obama and John McCain all supported the bailout that failed today in the House of Representatives. Admittedly Obama and McCain are senators, but they clearly are not viewed as strong enough leaders to pursuade the House members of their own parties to vote convincingly for a bill that might have kept the economy from tanking.
And that whole reach-across-the-aisle thing? Ain’t happenin’. Some Republicans blamed a partison speech by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, though Barney Frank pointed out the self-centered goofiness of the claim: Because somebody hurt their feelings they decide to punish the country. … I mean, that’s hardly plausible … I’ll make an offer. Give me those 12 people’s names [12 more votes were needed to pass the bill] and I will go talk uncharacteristically nicely to them.”
Considering the fall of the stock market, each of those 12 votes apparently was worth about 65 points on the Dow.
The situation is worse for Bush and McCain than for Obama, of course–at least the majority of Obama’s party voted for the bill. Frankly, I don’t know how I feel about the bill, but as I’ve written before, Bush himself is to blame for the fact that people now know he can’t be trusted. When in doubt, people tend to favor doing nothing over potentially doing something wrong–especially if that wrong might enrich the same people who have been ripping us off for the past seven years.
As I’ve also pointed out, the news media also share the blame for the failing economy, and our pitiful understanding of it. On the other hand, if opponents of the “doomsday machine” are correct, we won’t have to worry about something as trivial as the world economy for long.
Assuming they’re wrong and the world doesn’t explode within the next few days, I’ll be back next week. I’m off tomorrow to a conference in Seattle, one of my favorite cities, and usually try to avoid blogging when I travel. We all need an occasional break, and I’m obsessive enough about it when I’m here–tomorrow will be only the fourth day this month that I didn’t post at least once, with more than one post on several days.
Same day update: The Dow closed lower today than when Bush took office. In short, if you invested money in the market when he was sworn in and haven’t touched it since then, you’ve actually managed to lose money in those seven years. Put another way, you would have done better by stuffing that same money in your mattress. Presidents usually get too much credit when the economy does well and too much blame when it does poorly, but in this case, thanks to the impact of Bush’s dishonesty, he deserves a bigger share than usual.
Same day update #2: The stock losses were estimated at $1.2 trillion, or $500 billion more than the bailout plan.
Have a great week, if you can. And if you’re interested in more while I’m gone, check out the links at right or some of my previous favorites below:
Vice presidential debate strategies for Biden and Palin
McCain’s ‘no-talk express’ going where unwanted to avoid rough road
In search of Sarah, and where Congress spends your money
Craig Ferguson: “If you don’t vote, you’re a moron”
GOP view of Palin: pit bull or pretty little lady?
The Democrats’ best VP choice–and when Obama should name him
McCain’s best VP choice–and when he should name her
Have you ever heard of the “world’s most famous journalist”?
PUMAs stalk political relevance–and irony
“Act now”: a new way for candidates to reach the electorate
WOW! Young people access news differently than grandparents
Barack Obama, Muhammad Ali, Mos Def, Zalmay Khalilzad & Keith Ellison: Which doesn’t belong?
Utah Phillips and other dead patriots
Why Obama’s success is no surprise, and why McCain may be in trouble
One Response
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The thing to remember is that McCain and Obama are Senators not Representatives. The house and the Senare rarely interact. In fact the House and the Senate are almost adversarial. So expecting Senators to have any sway in the House’s deliberations is quite ridiculous.
McCain of course claimed victory before the bailout failed.